The Hunt for Bill
by ArcaneSmith
Summary: Star and Marco Learn that a former member of the Magic High Commission is trying to escape his prison in the Nightmare Realm. they arrive only to find out they are too late and that Bill Cypher has managed to free himself. Can they join forces with the local rebellion and put and end to his madness, or will the Earth fall into madness?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"What else have you been hiding from us!" Queen Moon sounded furious to Star. The Magic High Commission had been lying about their heritage! How could they just change the royal family like that! She could almost understand not approving of Glabgor, but what they did was treason. Filled with confusing thoughts, Star had stormed out of the court room. She was about to go find Tom or Marco but decided to eavesdrop instead. Only one way to find out what else they had done behind their backs.

"Nothing, I swe-"

"Romulus, if you lie to me, I will banish you from the Council and this dimension." The queen was not having it. Heckapoo sighed in defeat.

"There is one other thing about the history of the council that was erased from the records. There was once another member of the Magical High Council. He called himself Bill Cypher." The council gasped but Heckapoo continued. "He was a very powerful sleep demon from the second dimension."

Star was confused, in all her time wondering the realms, she'd never heard of such a place. Heckapoo stopped as Eclipsa gasped. Apparently, she'd heard of it though.

"The second dimension no longer exists. Bill burned it to the ground in his lust for power. When we found out what he did, we had to stop him. unfortunately, Bill was too powerful to kill so we were forced to banish him to a dimension that was so unstable it would collapse with him in it. We thought he would be contained there but recently it seems as if that might not be the case anymore..." As if knowing that whatever was coming out next would be bad, Queen Moon and Eclipsa took a seat, or at least what Star thought she heard. It's a little hard to know when you can't actually see what's happening.

"There have been reports that Bill has been using his powers as a sleep demon to contact people on earth in an attempt to free himself." Star's gasp was hidden as her mom bolted out of her chair. Her friends were in danger and the Council had said nothing. How could they?

"When I grounded Star, you knew that she would be in danger and you just let me send her off! You're lucky she's on Mewni right now. How could you let me do that." Star's mom was furious! Her baby girl could've been killed all because the Magical High Commission cared more about their reputation than the royal family.

"ahem, excuse me." Eclipsa said, taking control of the situation. Much to the dismay of Romulus, the rest of the members actually listened. "regardless of previous actions, this Bill must be stopped. You say he's stuck in a collapsing realm, so that means as a sleep demon he can only project himself into people's minds. All we have to do is make sure he stays in that realm until it collapses then."

"We cannot interfere, unfortunately." Omnitraxis Prime stepped in. "Earth is not fully aware of magic and, frankly, they aren't ready for it. As long as Bill stays in the realm he was put in, then everything will work out. The best he can do is cause a few nightmares."

Star couldn't listen anymore. The council refused to fix another one of their mistakes and this time earth was going to pay for it. Making up her mind, she went to go find Marco.

(Linebreak)

Nothing like a good ol' plate of nachos and a movie to end the night, Marco thought. It had been a long day and he was looking forward to relaxing. Only one thing could make the night perfect. Unfortunately, Star was off at that trial that would determine Eclipsa's future. Oh well, at least the nachos wer-

"MARCO!" Star burst through the wall with a look of determination that Marco had rarely seen on his bestfriend. The only other time he could think of was when the two of them passed by an animal shelter and Star did not rest until every single animal was adopted.

"We need to go to Earth right now! There is a sleep demon that is trying to break free from a collapsing realm and he's been giving people nightmares and he was on the Magic High Commission so he has some powerful mag-"

"Star! Calm down. Take a deep breath and tell me everything." Much to Marcos surprise she actually did.

And by the time she was done, Marco almost wished he was an ignorant teenager back at Echo Creek. The whole earth was at stake as long as this Bill guy was around. Fortunately, he knew just where to start.

"Okay, so he appears to be completely insane and loves to make things weird right?" Star nodded, not entirely sure where Marco was going with this. "we don't know where he is, but I'm sure Janna can tell us where to start looking."

"Marco, of course!" Janna would definitely know where to start. "Sometimes I forget that you can be smart."

"Aww tha-HEY wait a minute! I'm always smart!"

Deciding bigger things were at stake than pride, the two quickly called their favorite weirdness tracker and after a long, and frankly tedious conversation, Janna told them about a town in Oregon that had a long history of strange occurrences. It was also on her bucket list of places to visit before she graduated high school. Unfortunately for her Star decided that less people involved, the better. Marco didn't complain, Janna still made him uncomfortable.

"Hey Marco, ar-are you ready?" He turned, expecting to see Star in battle mode. For her to be ready to face the world. Instead, he saw his best friend with on the verge of tears. Marco couldn't help but pull her into a hug

"Hey, don't worry Star, everything will work out. As long as we stick together, then we can handle anything this guy throws at us." Star loved that Marco always new just what to say to cheer her up. Wiping off her tears, she turned towards him.

"You're right. Let's do this!" They nodded at each other before Marco cut open the rift to a little town called Gravity Falls and they stepped through together.

**AN: Yes, I know that the trial took place in the morning, but I wanted Marco to have nachos so...**

**It's so hard putting the first chapter online because I like to revisit my older chapters and edit a few lines every time to make it flow a bit better. eventually you gotta get it out to the public though so here it is.**

**I guess I should introduce myself too. I am the ArcaneSmith and I love reading so much I decided to try my hand at writing. I thought writing fanfiction would be a great way to develop my writing style and just seeing how people react to it. I mainly read Percy Jackson fanfictions but since I binged SVTFOE I just had to at least try this plot. I know this isn't a very popular category so if you liked it or hated it, I'd love to know.**

**Thank you so much for reading this story and I will try to update every Friday.**

**Peace**


	2. Chapter 2

Marco was speechless. A few minutes after they stepped through the portal the world exploded. The ground shook as a giant X was cleaved into a sky that was no longer blue. It was red.

"Oh no, we're too late." Bill managed to escape his prison. He was free. The earth was doomed because the stupid commission refused to help. As they stared at the dimensional tear, a giant stone pyramid rose above the trees. It was just floating there, mocking the laws of physics.

"Come on Marco, we have to try and fix this." Star pulled him along towards the town. "We can't giv- What the creamed corn is that!" A giant wave of soapy space water was racing towards them and everything it passed through transformed into some terrible beast.

Marco started to run but Star yanked him back. There was no time to run, the wave was gaining on them. Thinking fast, she summoned a force field around the two. The wave crashed upon the two and everything seemed to work until the second wave hit. The ground shook with more force and Marco lost his footing and was pushed out of the field.

"AAGGHHHHHHH!" Marco screamed in agony as mouths with pointy teeth replaced his kneecaps. He collapsed and immediately started convulsing. Star could only watch in absolute horror as her best friends' legs tried to eat himself.

By the time the wave was gone, tears were streaming down both of their faces and Marco was reduced to quiet whimpers. Star could barely look at him because seeing the look of pain in his eyes was too much to bear. She cradled his head in her lap and softly whispered comforting words as she tried to think of a spell that could fix him. She once healed his arm from a tentacle, how different would a leg be?

"Okay Marco, I'm going to try and heal you, alright. Try and stay still." The look in his eyes broke her heart all over again. He was in so much pain all because she decided to bring him along. Star pointed the wand at Marcos knees and closed her eyes. She had to get this right; Marcos life depended on it. "returnio lego normorado." Almost instantly the teeth started to shrink and soon all that was left of that nightmare was some blood on the ground.

Marco took in a deep breath and shuddered. "That was beyond a doubt the most painful thing I have ever experienced. Thank you, Star. Without your spell I'd have been like that forever."

"I couldn't leave you like that Marco. It was terrible just to watch. We'll both need therapists for that one." They chuckled at the attempt to lighten the mood and it was working until they looked at their new surroundings.

"What the…" it was pure chaos. The entire town had turned into some sort of weirdmeggadon. The trees were now… legs? Screams could be heard off in the distance over a chalk-scratching roar. The pair shuddered. This was more serious than either of them were prepared for

"Star, do you think you can cast another magic shield, but this time over the whole town? We have to keep this contained." Star looked at her wand in deep thought and frowned. That shield took a lot of her focus and energy.

"I don't think so Marco. The last one was barely big enough for the two of us and it nearly drained me. I could never keep one as big as you're thinking powered. But…" Star was more focused than Marco had ever seen her in his life. He knew there was a plan forming in that brain. "But my mom taught me this spell in case one of members of the Magic High Commission ever went rogue. It will allow the user to channel magic right from the magic dimension so I won't become fatigued and the shield can theoretically stay on for days."

It was a little ironic since this Bill Cypher used to be on the commission but Marco decided to keep his thoughts to himself and let Star focus. She raised her wand but stopped.

"there is one problem though," she said. "If this shield goes up, then no magic will be able to escape it until I take the shield down. That includes our interdimensional scissors. I can raise it from outside the barrier but then we won't be able to try and stop Bill." Wow, that was a tough decision. They could leave the people of Gravity Falls to suffer while they sent for reinforcements, something that might not even work. Or, they could stay. They could face him head on when he's least expecting it, but they'd be doing it without any help.

What made matters worse was the decision had to be final, Marco realized. If they stayed inside only to fail, the only way out would be to drop the shield. However, that would give Bill Cypher a chance to escape as well. This was an all or nothing ordeal. There would be no second chances.

"Do it, Star. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if we left these people to their fate. We need to at least try and stop him." She nodded to Marco and soon started muttering an incantation under her breath. She began to hover as her hearts started glowing. He couldn't make out what she was saying but strange symbols started appearing around the town, vanishing as soon as they were visible. Finally, the shield was complete. It gave off a blue hue before disappearing like the symbols.

The town may go down in flames, but at least the rest of the world would be protected. For now, at least. The shield should last for a long time but Bill was clever. Marco had his doubts that anything could hold this demon in forever. Somehow, they needed to stop him, which seemed impossible since the most powerful magic users of Mewni failed that task.

"What's next, Star?" Marco decided his legs had had enough time to recover and tried to stand up. His legs were a little too much like jelly for his taste but at least he was standing now. Only been on Earth ten minutes Marco and you've already witnessed things that will haunt your nightmares. Great.

"Well if I was an evil overlord, I would definitely stay in that floating triangle thing. We're gonna go there, meet Bill, and kick his ass."

**AN: heyyy, so I'm sorry that I am already behind my updating schedule. I've been writing still, I just forgot to publish it. Also I'm really trying not to rush things. It took four days for Dipper to free Mabel and I want to delve into those days and not just skip over them. The next chapter will be from Dippers perspective. Anyways, thanks for reading my story. I really do appreciate it.**

**Also, something went wrong when I tried to upload this story. I'm not entirely sure what happened but thankfully someone told me. If you're reading this than I've fixed it yay!**


	3. Chapter 3

Dipper couldn't believe what was happening. The end of the world. With Bill released and Great Uncle Ford turned into a backscratcher, there was nothing he could do. He wished he still had the journals. He doubted they had any real knowledge on defeating the triangle demon but at least they were familiar to him.

The worst part about this stupid weirdmaggedon was that Mabel was missing. They'd gotten in a fight right before the interdimensional snow globe broke and he hadn't heard from her since. Dipper knew she was out there though. Bill wouldn't kill her without rubbing it in. So, all he had to do was stay alive until they were reunited and then they could face the monsters together. Just like always.

It wasn't easy though. Countless new monsters had been created since Bill broke through, Dipper even started his own journal. It may not be as grand as the three Great Uncle Ford created, but it helped keep him calm and could might even come in handy in the upcoming days. Most of the notes were about the flying eyeballs. They turned people to stone and took them away. Bill must need a lot of back scratchers, or at least that was his best guess.

His stomach growled. Hunger was the main reason he had travelled to the Dusk 2 Dawn Convenience Store. The Diner had been ransacked the day the rift happened, barely a scrap survived the raids. However, the convenience store had been abandoned for years and nobody dared to go there until Wendy invited him to stay the night there. After a terrifying few hours the gang had managed to escape thanks to Dippers natural sense of cuteness but it was enough to deter any of the teenagers from coming back. Hopefully, at least.

This was the last place he wanted to be, but that's why he was here. There was bound to be food in there. There had to be.

After climbing the chain link, Dipper surveyed the building. The front door had been relocked so he was forced to scale the side of the store and get in through the air vents again. Dipper surveyed the store; just as dusty as he remembered. Thankfully, the store appeared untouched by recent events. When he turned the lights on he could almost see the gang of teenagers, ready to party just like always. Then reality sunk in and he remembered that they had all most likely been taking by the eye bats.

The aisles were filled with expired food, but Dipper was too hungry to care. He tore open a smile dip, safety warnings forgotten, and a bag of potato chips and promptly shoved them down his throat. He was too preoccupied to notice the fog rolling from behind the counter.

"Well honey, would you look who came back. It's the lovely boy who knows the lamby dance." Ma and Pa Duskerton materialized out of thin air. Dipper almost had a heart attack, of course the ghosts would still be here. Their hatred of teens ran too deep for one twelve-year-old to make them move on.

"There sure has been quite a ruckus outside lately… Dipper wasn't it? I sure hope you and those teenager friends of yours have nothing to do with it." Knowing that telling her that he was at the center of this mess could very well make them angry, Dipper did the only thing he could think of.

"Of c-course no-"

"DON'T LIE TO US!" the room shook as the two seemingly harmless apparitions transformed into flaming devils. "WE CAN SENSE WHEN PEOPLE LIE. NOW TELL US THE TRUTH."

Sighing, Dipper relented. He should've known that but the stupid journals containing all the knowledge had been burnt. Cursing Bill once again, Dipper sat down on the ground.

"Okay, I lied. The truth is my family caused the rupture and, as far as I know, I'm the only one of us still standing. I lied because I didn't want to make you two upset. I have nowhere else to go." Reverting back to their original forms, ma took the distressed teen into a hug, he'd obviously been through some hard times.

"Shhh, it's okay. We know the truth is hard sunny, but without it we can't help you. You aren't alone in this." Pa conjured up a few rocking chairs and they all took a seat. "What you young kids never seem to understand is that us old folks have seen a thing our two. Just take a deep breath and start from the beginning."

That's exactly what he did. Dipper told them everything, only stopping to take a bite of a hotdog they gave him, saying it was more filling than the junk he was eating. He told them about the journals and of all the adventures he had been on with his sister. He rambled on about the bunker and the mystery of the author, who turned out to be his great uncle. He even talked about Bill Cypher and the Night-o-Sphere and the rift that was opened.

They listened to it all, never once interrupting. They didn't show any signs of disbelief either but whether that was because they had actually seen a thing or two in their day or because they could actually tell that he was telling the truth was up for debate.

"Sounds like it's a big mess out there right now. You can stay here as long as you like. However, that being said, I don't think you should stay here for long. You seem to be in the middle of everything that is happening. The people need a leader to rally behind. We think that should be you." As encouraging as the words were, Dipper shook his head.

"I can't do anything against Bill, you don't understand. He's just too powerful." Sure, Dipper had faced gnomes and dinosaurs but this demon was on a completely different level.

"If you don't, Dipper, then who will? I know you don't want the Earth to fall into madness." Pa put a hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes. "Who knows what could happen, the best thing you could do is to try. Or you could just stay here and seal the fate of your friends."

Pa was right, Dipper wasn't going to give up. He couldn't just sit here and cry about what happened, his friends and family needed him. What he needed now was a plan.

**AN: There, I updated on time, you guys happy? I honestly didn't think anyone would read this story when I started writing it so it's very inspiring that over a hundred people have at least skimmed it. And to my readers Singapore, Sweden, and Mexico you guys are a huge surprise. I know anyone from anywhere can read my stories but knowing that people in non-english countries are reading this has made my week. And of course, a big shout out to all my other readers too. Any feedback you guys have would be greatly appreciated, I'd love to hear if you guys have any critiques or criticism or even ideas about where the story should go. Next chapter will be with Star and Marco, so there's something to look forward to until I update again. **

**Oh! I'm also on Wattpad. Check me out over there if y'all (yes, I'm a Texan, deal with it) want to. **


	4. Chapter 4

"What the Hell are these things Star!" Star and Marco had been ambushed by these flying eyeball bat creatures almost immediately after raising the barrier. To make matters worse was that they couldn't lose them. The bats always seemed to know their exact location.

"How am I supposed to know! They're from a collapsing realm that I've never seen, just keep fighting Marco!" This was just not her day. First, she found out her royal lineage was a lie, something she still hasn't had time to fully digest because of what came next. A banned member of the Magic high commission was planning the escape of his dimensional prison. Worse, he seemed to be targeting Earth, one of Stars favorite planets. To top things off, she came just in time to see Bill succeed in his prison break and now the town was encased in utter madness. And now they were surrounded by these giant flying eyeballs that could turn things into solid rock.

There's no way they could keep this up for much longer, she realized. Star could tell Marco was tiring, his karate chops were slowing down and he was just avoiding the bat's stone gazes. What they needed was a miracle.

"BAAA!" A giant, furry leg stepped on an eye bat. Marco screamed as the ground shook for the third time that day. Seizing the miracle, Star grabbed Marco and pulled him from the chaos.

"Move Marco! This is our chance to escape while they're distracted!" The eye bats didn't take kindly to the killing of one of their own and were trying their hardest to turn a fifty-foot goat into a statue. They managed to run away, forgotten by the eye bats momentarily.

The distraction appeared to work, although Star wanted nothing more than to ride that ginormous goat. She could almost feel how soft the fur would be, and what a way to ride into battle! Bill would be quaking if they showed up on him. Going back wasn't an option though, she needed to get Marco to safety so he could regain his energy.

They ran by a beaten down shack as they made their way to the town. They thought about stopping but were afraid that they hadn't put enough distance between the bats yet so they decided to keep going.

(Line Break)

The town was coming into sight at last and as Marco looked around his heart sank. The place was in ruins. Walls were crumbling and fires could be heard in the distance. Bill had only escaped a few hours ago and society had already collapsed.

As the duo took in their surroundings a man came scrambling out of a nearby appliance store. He had gray hair that was covered by a straw hat and fatty cheeks that made him appear jovial, as if all was right with the world.

"What are you two doing outside, can't you see the sky? Come on inside, get some food in you." Star and Marco looked at each other, this could be an excellent way to get some more information on what exactly happened. They silently agreed that Star should do most of the talking. She was the expert on talking to people after all.

"Thank you, sir. Would you mind telling us what happened here?" Star decided it was best to play innocent. After all, if Bill had been haunting people for a while like the High Commission thought, they may not be entirely clueless.

"Well, I'll be honest, I don't know too much. I was inside when that big ol' X was put in the sky. Now everything has turned sideways and upside down. The name's Dipper, by the way." Star shook his outstretched hand. She noticed the way his eyes watched her and how he smiled, and not in a warm way, when she accepted his handshake. It was like she missed some sort of inside joke that he had been testing her with. "I've seen a thing or two, but nothing like this. I really couldn't tell you exactly what's happening here. You young folk always have theories though. What do you think this is all about?"

Star and Marco hesitated. How much should they reveal? This man seemed nice enough, but looks could be deceiving and they didn't want information getting in the wrong hands. On the other hand, if Dipper was an honest man, they could use someone who was familiar with the town. If they didn't trust anyone then nothing would get solved. They needed to play their cards right, they decided, not hide them away. Nothing risked, nothing gained.

It was crazy how that entire conversation happened within a single glance, almost like twins. Well, Star was hoping for more than that one day but that was neither here nor there. She couldn't fantasize about the future when the present was at stake.

"We think a sleep demon has been using humans to bring himself into this reality. That tear in the sky was him and he's residing in that giant stone pyramid." The man's eyes widened and he smiled that same, creepy smile again. He was happy, way happier than he should be for what Star had just told him.

"My my, you two sure do know a whole lot about this situation – more than anyone else in this stupid town would. You also don't know that brat of a kid named Dipper so you're not from around here. There's only one way you could know all this so hand it over."

"Umm, hand what over?" Marco replied. He could feel something wasn't quite right anymore. He may be dense but he wasn't blind.

"The journals!" He stood up and his body started shaking in rage. Maybe it was more than rage, Marco thought, because his body was changing. His eyes blinked sideways as his body became see-through. "You mortals know too much! You must have found the journals, so HAND THEM OVER!"

"Journals!? This is all over someone's diary!? I hate to ruin your day but we have no idea what you're talking about!" Marco was not having this. Some man invites them to eat and then turns into some transparent freak over a stupid book. Too bad Star couldn't blast him with her magic wand or else the eye bats would be able to track them. Apparently, his best friend was _almost_ thinking the same lines because she pulled out her wand and hit him right in the face with a narwhale blast. Oh right, he'd never told her his theory about that. Idiot.

Instead of getting hit, the monster transformed into a small human with a red hat to avoid the spell and then took the form of colorful narwhale. He'd transformed into one of Star's spells!

"What is this, some new creature? Did you create that? With that wand I could manifest any form I can imagine. Give it over before I take it from your corpse." Star and Marco regrouped as the shapeshifting freak was monologuing. They watched in horror as it turned from a cute and cuddly narwhale into another massive creature. It was dark green with biceps bigger than Marcos head with mushrooms growing on his shoulders. The worst part was the face, though. It had a gaping mouth with huge tusks and glowing red eyes that made Star whimper in fear.

His menacing laugh turned into a snarl as he advanced.

**AN: I realized that I haven't had a cliff hanger in this story yet so I decided to fix that. Hopefully it's a decent one. Also, for those that are confused, the Shapeshifter was calling himself Dipper to see if Star and Marco would recognize it. Since they didn't, he knew that they weren't locals and deduced they must have found one of the journals to get the knowledge they had.**

**On a side note, who are some of your favorite authors? I really enjoy reading books by Neal Shusterman, Orson Scott Card, and Michael Grant. **

**I'll see you guys (and gals) next Friday.**


	5. Chapter 5

"HA, DO YOU LIKE MY NEW FORM!" The beast towered over the two teenagers as his voice thundered around them. "I found this magnificent creature after I escaped that wretched bunker!"

"Uhh, Star? Maybe we should… RUN!" they sprinted out of the building as fast as they could. Dipper, or whatever his real name was (if it was even a he at all) chased after them, smashing through the side of the wall instead of trying to fit through the door. Star sent a cupcake blast behind them as they ran down the street.

They needed to hide soon, Marco thought. Those evil eye bats would be here any minute and that was not a problem he wanted to deal with at the moment. Although… Marco was so startled by his idea he stopped moving.

"MARCO!" Star couldn't believe him, stopping in the middle of running for their lives. She couldn't even use her favorite animal spells in case it gave the shape shifter another shape to shift into. "This is no time to mess around!"

"STAR! I'VE GOT AN IDEA! USE AS MUCH MAGIC AS YOU CAN!" Well alrighty, Star could definitely do that. Firing off a laser beam blast at the shape shifter she, ducked behind a car and let loose an explosive rainbow fist punch. It was impossible to hit the creature because he would just change into a shape that would avoid whatever spell she threw at it. Whatever plan Marco had better work.

"You fools, there is no stopping me!" He flipped over the car Marco and Star were hiding behind and transformed into a spitting image of a teenage boy with curly brown hair that was tucked under a blue trucker's hat. He would've looked like a normal kid except his eyes were still glowing red and his hands had grown claws. He grabbed Star by the arm and she screamed in pain as the claws dug into her skin.

The cruel monster only laughed at her pain before throwing her into the nearest wall. She groaned as the stars (ha) cleared from her vision. Why were three Marcos? Star watched as the Marcos combined into a single body but it didn't look good. He was standing in between her and the monster; trying to fight the creature with his karate moves but it was just too fast. One swift punch to the stomach later and he was on the street curled into a ball.

"You can't defeat me." He was standing over her now, a smug grin plastered on his face was gloating. The smile wasn't quite right though, it was just a bit too wide with too many teeth. Regardless, it was obvious that he was enjoying this, the thrill of the hunt. Star looked at Marco and saw that idiot smiling, did he have a death wish?!

"I know," Marco said, and pointed at the sky, "but they can!" tens of eyebats had gathered around the trio and now that their presence was known they attacked.

Furious, the Shapeshifter yelled and transformed back into that massive green creature and tried to fight the eyebats. He slashed the first one into pieces and avoided a stone beam by transforming into a small bird. Then he transformed into that hideous green goblinesque creature midflight and slammed into another bat. He was truly a sight to behold as he shifted from snake to beaver to human to some creature the two had never seen before. It was like watching water flow from one cup to another.

Unfortunately, there were just too many of them. For every flying creature he killed, two more showed up to take its place. He screamed in pure fury as his arm was turned to stone, mid transformation into some other horrifying monster. He refused to give up though and used the newly formed club and smacked that eye bat into the ground.

"Quickly, Star, we need to get out of here as quickly as possible!" Grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet, they ran away from the center of the town square and towards the ever-looming pyramid. Some of the bats followed and Star and Marco had to dive in a side alley to lose them.

"I don't know how much longer I can last, Marco." She gasped as he gently took a hold of her arm, assessing the damage. It wasn't good, but it wasn't fatal as long as it stayed infected. "How are we supposed to defeat Bill if we can't even get to him?" Her eyes started to tear up as Marco pulled her into a hug.

"We can't give up hope, Star. The people need us." He let go of her so he could look her in the eyes. It was vital that neither of them gave up hope, otherwise there was no chance of coming out on top. "We'll find somewhere to cozy and safe to stay the night so that we will be able to overcome any adversities tomorrow may bring."

Where would she be without him, Star thought. He always knew how to lift her spirits enough to fight another day. After a few minutes rest, neither of them could hear the sound of any wings flapping so they decided to start looking for shelter. They stopped at the first abandoned house they came across and Marco was raiding the kitchen while Star was resting on one of the couches.

She glanced at the gash on her arm. She had been about to heal it with her wand when Marco explained his theory and that the bats could somehow sense when magic was used so now she was stuck with letting it heal naturally until she could safely use her wand again.

"Ah-hah!" Marcos scream of triumph shook Star off her thought train and she looked at the red bag he held in front of him proudly.

"What is it?"

"Oh nothing, just a good ol' first aid kit! I can use the supplies in here to sterilize and dress your wound so that it doesn't get infected." While Star was grateful for the help, she swore she would never use rubbing alcohol again. It didn't make sense to pour something on a wound that made it hurt worse.

"There, that's better," Marco was proud of himself. He remembered all the steps of properly dressing a wound and now he had potentially saved Stars life. Star/79 – Marco/3. He would work on evening the score out later, all that mattered was that he was gaining on her. "hey, I found some food, do you want me to get you something to eat?"

After a tired nod from his best friend, he put together some food that didn't need to be cooked. It was mainly just cereal and granola, but there wasn't a lot of options. He brought dinner out in two bowls only to find Star fast asleep.

Smiling softly, he grabbed a throw-blanket from the fireplace and draped it over her before leaving the bowl of food on the table by her head. Deciding Star had the right idea, he went to one of the bedrooms and was dreaming of his high school friends before his head hit the pillow.

**AN: So, I bet a few of you are wondering why I decided to update a few days early. I'll be honest, last night was a rough one. I'm a freshman in college and I'm having a lot of trouble finding any friends and it hit me really hard last night. To make matters worse, my high school girlfriend and I were having our first real argument since we started doing long distance and to put it bluntly, I was not having a good time. And then I noticed I had an email from that said that this story had been added to someone's favorite story list. It was a little surreal because the first time someone favorites my story happens on one of my worst nights in months. I just wanted to take the time and say that I really appreciate that and it actually turned my night around. **

**This chapter is dedicated to show my thanks to JellyB3ll. Love the name by the way.**

**(and yes, I still plan to publish another chapter on Friday don't worry)**

**Okay, so now for my real authors note. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I'm trying to add more emotions into them and even starting to build some sub-plots. What do you guys think of the story? I'm extremely curious because one of the things on my bucket list is to get a book published and I don't want it to just be average. I want to write a book that people enjoy, something that they just can't put down. Any criticism is greatly appreciated.**

**See y'all on Friday.**


	6. Chapter 6

"Dipper!" he woke to Ma shaking his shoulders frantically. "There are creatures outside, you have to get out of here!" Any traces of sleep Dipper had disappeared. He ran to the front of the store and saw that eyebats had the place surrounded. Did they know he was here, or did they just come to destroy the building?

"We need to distract them so that Dipper can escape." His head snapped to the ghosts. They couldn't do that. I mean they weren't really alive and had a scary side that could cause some damage, but Bill never lost. Something would happen to them.

"You guys can't go out there!" He pleaded, "Once Bill knows that someone with actual power is out here, he'll destroy you two." They saw the look on his face and pulled him into that hug that only old people knew how to give. He felt safe in their arms, even with the looming threat outside.

"Now, don't you worry about us, dear," Ma said as the building started to shake. The eyebats must be trying to tear the place down now, they were running out of time. "We've haunted this store for too many years and you are too important to die here. Maybe it's our time to move on, see what comes next."

"Now, we can only give you a small window to escape, Sonny." Pa said as he moved Dipper towards the back exit. "Here, we filled your backpack with as much food and water as we could. Be ready to run like hell."

He did as he was told and closed his eyes, fighting back tears. When the windows were smashed in and the old couple gave their best war cries, Dipper opened the door and ran. He ran till he couldn't breathe and so he walked until hear the battle raging on behind became nothing more than a faint whisper.

Dipper didn't stop moving until the silence hit him. Whatever happened had happened and he didn't want to know who came out on top. He started walking again but his shoes felt heavier than before.

To say that Dipper was confused when he walked into the town square was an understatement. He knew the entire world had turned sideways but he never imagined it looking like someone detonated a rainbow bomb in the middle of town. Cars had been flipped and the liquid rainbow plastered the crumbling walls.

"egh," it was slimy. What kind of sick man does this? Bill was so unpredictable; this stuff was probably giving him some form of cancer. Mabel wouldn't've cared though. He would have had to stop her from eating it.

Dipper sighed. This wasn't the first time he missed his twin sister. He would never forgive himself if the last time he ever talked to ended in an argument. Tears wouldn't make things right he told himself. He would make things right with her by finding her and apologizing.

Then the two of them would face Bill together, and they would win. They had to, or they may never see their parents ag-

Dipper slapped himself, that was not something he wanted to be thinking about in enemy territory. It wasn't safe here anymore. He could hear things he didn't want to even imagine a few streets down. The screams of other people fighting a losing battle with the eyebats.

He closed his eyes and tried to shut them out, he couldn't help them – not right now anyway. He didn't know their weaknesses, if they even had any, and he wasn't strong enough to do any damage with his bare hands.

Turning his back on their pleas for was one of the hardest things Dipper had ever done and to have to do it twice in one day was beyond humiliating. He vowed not to make a habit out of it. Next time he faced those creatures, he'd be ready. He cursed at the situations he was being forced into and with clenched fists he headed into the forest.

(Line break)

"what the…" Dipper had been wandering around in the woods looking for the bunker. He never expected to actually find it, much less for the front door to be open. Could Great Uncle Ford have escaped Bill? He may have been turned into a gold statue but that didn't stop the hope swelling in his chest. He wouldn't be alone anymore. Someone could help him.

He bounded down the stairs, yelling out to his gruncle. This would change everything. Ford would now exactly what to do, Dipper didn't need those journals with him around. He would also know where to find Mabel!

"FORD!" His answer was met with silence as he reached the bottom of the stairs. So, he wasn't in the first room, so what. So what if that meant that he left the door open without keeping an eye on it. Who cares that Great Uncle Ford was never that careless?

The puzzle room's door was open, another sign that Dipper promptly ignored. Walking into the secret room, he immediately noticed that the decontamination booth was torn to shreds. Ford, or any regular human for that matter, wouldn't have the strength to do that.

He walked through, stopping at the cryofreeze chambers. His blood ran cold, much colder than the inside of the chambers, because they weren't working. The glass had shattered from the inside out. There was no question in his mind, the shapeshifter had been released. His gruncle was still trapped with that demon.

Dippers breath hitched; this couldn't be happening. He still had nightmares about the first time they descended into the bunker and to know that anyone he met could be him in disguise was almost too much to bear. He was truly alone now, how could he trust anyone? What if he saw his sister and it turned out to be the shapeshifter? Could his mind take that kind of beating, Dipper didn't want to find out.

After going back to the weapons closet, Dipper searched the entire compound. He'd never used a shotgun before but he grasped the theory of how it worked. Point and shoot.

After becoming one hundred percent sure that the monster wasn't in the bunker, Dipper let his emotions overtake him. He sat on the ground and cried. Dipper wasn't afraid to admit that he was afraid. The world he knew was crumbling and there was no one by his side. He left the ghosts to sacrifice themselves and turned his back on people who begging for help.

His stomach grumbled and he decided that his pity party was over. Beans weren't usually good cold, but Dipper was too hungry to care. He hadn't eaten since he left the haunted convenience store that morning and was grateful that Ma and Pa had had the foresight to pack his backpack because the rations Ford had stored in the first room looked completely inedible.

He was eating in the room with all the computers and recording tapes when he noticed the filing cabinets. They were right by the mauled decontamination booths but they appeared to have been untouched by the shape shifters fury.

He opened one up and found notes on interdimensional travel. The writing appeared fresh, had Great Uncle Ford been down here since he came back? Why would he keep this a secret? He kept reading but it didn't make a lot of sense. One of the papers talked about a dimension he visited where all people ate was corn and they still ruled under a monarchy.

Dipper smile, something he hadn't done since Bill escaped. Deciding to take his mind off the current situation, he kept reading about the dimensions his gruncle explored. He actually laughed out loud when he read about a dimension that was one big night club. He would've paid money to see his uncle try and dance with extraterrestrials.

It felt good to pretend that everything was alright with the world, if only for the night. With the secret entrance closed, he was in one of the safest locations in Gravity Falls.

**AN: So, here is the next chapter, hope you guys like it. I was debating on whether to show that the shapeshifter had escaped or Star and Marcos interaction with him and I think it worked out even though if I did it the other way there would have been more foreshadowing and suspense. Also, the people he turns his back on aren't intentionally Star and Marco because they're begging for mercy, but you can think it's them if you want. I haven't quite figured out how Dipper didn't see Mabel's giant purple prison sphere until he found Wendy but I'll think of something. I don't want to hype the next chapter but Star and Marco are going to finally confront Bill and it was a really fun chapter to write.**

**If any of you guys live in East Texas, I hope you guys are okay. I go to A&M Galveston and Tropical Storm Imelda hit the campus pretty hard. School was cancelled for a few days and a few cars flooded but we made the best out of it. A few of us were even chilling on pool floats in between the dorm buildings and had a pool party.**


	7. Chapter 7

Of all the Things Marco expected Bill to look like, a yellow flying pyramid was not one of them. After Star flew them up the entrance and dealt with the greeting party of eyebats, they blew a hole and the wall and saw something so cruel that they just stared at it. A throne made of humans turned to stone, all with faces full of pain. They must have been in agony when they were transformed.

And sitting on that throne was none other than Bill Cypher, or at least he assumed it was. It'd be a little awkward if he was in the bathroom or something and missed their grand entrance. They were quickly surrounded by a conglomeration of failed kid's toys with sharp teeth. They licked their lips and hissed at the pair. Star raised her wand and Marco crouched into his karate stance.

They didn't have to face the terrifying creatures as the yellow demon waved his hand and everyone was blown from their spot. Marco landed a punk pink barbie doll with fiery hair. Like her hair was literal fire.

She licked her lips and bear hugged him. he might've blushed if it wasn't for the overwhelming amount of terror he felt. Why did they have to confront him? Couldn't they have just blown up the whole pyramid or something?

"Well Well Well, Isn't. This. Interesting." Marco couldn't help but flinch when he heard the sleep demon talk. It was as if he was speaking with a hundred voices all at once. "I Thought I Smelled A Mewman, But The Princess! Now That IS A Treat."

He waved his hand and Star and Marco were teleported onto a couch that was made entirely out of eyeballs. Marco squealed and tried to move but found he was being forced to sit on it. "It Has Been So Long. How Is Old Glossaryck? Does He Still Love Pudding? I Bet He Does, Classic Glossaryck."

Even Star seemed uncomfortable in his presence. Her face was as white as the knuckles around her wand. Her and Marco had come up with a plan to take Bill down before coming here. That all went right out the window when he took a sip of a martini. With his eye. What was this guys problem, was he raised by psychopaths? It would definitely explain a lot, actually.

"You… You listen here, Bill." Her voice sounded fragile and Bill seized upon it like a piranha. He flew out of his throne and turned blood red. His soulless eye was mere inches from Stars.

"Listen? To You?" Marco would've rather listened to Miss Skullknick drag her claws against the chalkboard than listen to Bill's maniacal laughter. "Why On Earth Would I Listen To You! You're Nothing Compared To Me, Not Even With That Silly Little Wand Of Yours.

"I Am The Most Powerful Sleep Demon In Existence. If The Magic High Commission Couldn't Stop Me, What Are You Going To Do?" He opened his arms wide and took a few steps back, welcoming an attack. Star raised her wand, thinking of what spell she could use against him. it had to be powerful.

"I call the spell which has no name. Solaria's gift with which she reigned. Eclipse my heart with rightful power." The room darkened as all the light was sucked into Stars wand. Her eyes were glowing brighter than Marco had ever seen. This spell had to be on another caliber entirely. She opened her eyes, "Stand before the princess and cower."

The light at the tip of Stars wand took the shape of a purple butterfly with a skull on it. The creature was sent towards Bill and when it touched the ground, it melted like butter. This thing could do some damage. And Bill grabbed it by the wing and took a bite out of it.

"HaHaHaHa, You Know A Dark Spell, I'll Admit I'm Impressed. Too Bad Those Won't Work On Me. I'll Tell You What, I Will Let You Leave Here. That Is How Little You Can Do To Stop Me. That Spell You Made Was The Most Powerful That Solaris Had Ever Created." He crumpled the death butterfly into a ball and threw it to a monster that looked like a ginormous loaf of bread. He gnawed on it like a chew toy.

Star was on the verge of tears. That spell was her best bet against the demon, and he took a bite out of it. If that didn't work, what would. She had been so completely humiliated in just a few seconds.

"Come on Marco, Let's get out of here." She went to take his hand but he flew back. His cry was cut short as his hand started to turn gray. He stared at it in shock as it slowly spread through his arm.

MARCO!" She was by his side in a heartbeat. Star had no idea what to do, this wasn't any magic she was familiar with. The only thing she could do was hold him in her lap and tell him everything would be okay as tears rolled down her cheek and the infection spread through his body. The hand Star had grabbed onto was the last thing to turn to stone.

He became a statue just like the poor people in the throne. Bill picked him up and put him at the top of the throne. Star just stared at her best friend. His hand was frozen, like it was still holding on to hers. What game was Bill playing? He was said we could go. He sai-

"I Said _You_ Could Leave, Not Him. Just Know That If You Ever Try Anything Ever Again, He'll Pay For It." He got right in Stars face. "Or Maybe I'll Just Mess With Him. For. Fun."

"NO!" Star screamed. He couldn't take Marco, anything but him. He didn't deserve this. "You can't take him, Bill! Take me instead, _please_." She would be lost without him; he was her rock in this crazy world.

"HA, Why Would I Want You When This Will Be Much More Entertaining." He picked Star up and walked towards the hole in the wall. "Oh! Marco Was Right By The Way, I Can Smell When Mewni Magic Is Used and If You Use Any More Of It He'll Pay For It!

"Have Fun Knowing Your Failure Cost Your Bestfriend!" The last thing she heard before Bill threw her from his castle was that insane laughter.

**AN: Sorry about updating a day late, yesterday was a bit crazy. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I didn't mean for Marco to get trapped there but Bill wouldn't just let both of them leave unharmed so goodbye Marco. See y'all soon.**


	8. Chapter 8

Star's stomach growled; she hadn't been able to find any food since they confronted Bill. Not that she'd looked too hard, her mind was too busy beating itself up. She lost, and Marco paid for it. She couldn't even use magic to conjure up something to eat; Bills warning rung through her ears.

Where was she even at? Star had been reduced to roaming the streets, looking for anything that could bring Marco back. She passed a mall and decided it'd be better than being in the sun. Every department store had been completely trashed. The department store seemed to be the least destroyed, apparently nobody wanted to play street hockey during the end of the wor-

"uheugh," She may not be proud of the noise that came out of her mouth but what she saw definitely made up for it. Past the department store was a little food court. And there was a plate of nachos, just sitting there. She almost cried because Marco loved nachos, they were his favorite snack. She started towards it then stopped. Bill probably put it there to taunt her. Star refused to take the bait even though her stomach growled in protest.

A brown-haired teenager didn't have the same restraint as her because he came from a different hallway and beelined right for the delicious. He seemed to be her age, if not a little younger. He had a blue sweater vest and a trucker hat with a… pine tree on it? That didn't make sense to Star, but she never really got human fashion trends.

The second he picked the plate up a net rose around him and trapped him. Star couldn't let him fall in the trap that Bill left for her. She wouldn't let another man down, even a stranger.

"DON'T WORRY, I'LL SAVE YOU!" Star jumped on to the net and started biting it with her teeth. She didn't even notice the third person in the room till she felt the arms wrap around her. Needless to say, Star flipped out. Her body moved like a fish on the deck of a boat.

"Woah there! Chill out dude."

Star was puzzled; Bill didn't sound like a girl. She opened her eyes and found herself in a bear hug from a girl with red hair; she'd always wanted to be friends with a redhead. She wore green flannel and was a good foot taller than Star.

"Wendy?" The girl, Wendy apparently, looked at who was in the net and gasped. She dropped Star and cut the net down.

"Dipper!? Oh man am I glad to see you again!" Dipper? Was this the kid that the shapeshifting monster was talking about? Wendy went to pick him up in a hug but he scurried back, eyes widening in fear.

"Stay back! You could be the shapeshifter. Tell me something only the real Wendy would know." So it _was _that Dipper if he had crossed paths with that freak. Star may be empathetic towards the monsters on Mewni, but that thing was nothing but pure evil.

"_WHAT!_" Wendy must've met him too because she looked terrified for a second before her face was filled with rage. "Ooh when I get my hands on that monster, there's gonna be some pain dealt."

Dipper must've thought that that was enough proof because a big smile broke out on his face and he ran to embrace his friend. They embraced in a hug that made Star jealous. She couldn't help it; they obviously meant a lot to each other and once again her thoughts drifted to Marco.

"Hey Dipper umm… who's your friend?" two pairs of eyes turned to Star and she was suddenly aware of how badly this could go. She couldn't prove she wasn't the shapeshifter and even _if_ they believed her there was no way she could prove she was actually from Mewni and was on a mission to stop Bill. She could say that her dimension was full of magic but they'd never believe she could cast a spell without proof and she refused to jeopardize Marcos safety.

"Uh… Hi guys, my name is Star Butterfly. I'm not the shapeshifter thing you guys are worried about. Marco and I actually crossed paths with him and the eyebat things ended up turning him into stone."

"Really?" Dipper didn't even try to hide his suspicion. "If that's true, where is this Marco and how come I've never seen you around town before?" The next few moments were critical for Star, if they didn't believe her then she would be alone again. She wouldn't survive much longer since she refused to use magic for the time being.

"So, funny story, I'm not from earth. I'm actually from another dimension called Mewni. Marco, my best friend – he's actually from earth too – and I learned that Bill was escaping his prison so we decided to try and stop him. Marco got trapped."

Wendy still seemed suspicious, but Dippers eyes widened – did he know Marco or something? Marco didn't seem to know of him, maybe Marco was famous ever since he became her squire or something.

"Mewni? Does everyone only eat corn there?"

"What? No." How stereotypical to think that all mewmans ate was corn, Star couldn't believe it. "We also eat corn on a stick, corn shake, creamed corn, and corned corn."

Dipper started breathing heavily; this girl was from the dimension Ford had visited! The shapeshifter would've never known about that place, so Dipper knew she was telling the truth. She looked so… human though. He always imagined aliens differently in his head. Did people from other dimensions count as aliens?

"Wendy, she's telling the truth. Great Uncle Ford visited her dimension when he was in that portal. Can you help us defeat Bill?" She wasn't just another knight or bishop in this game of chess, she was a completely new piece; who knows what she brought to the table.

"I can tell you about Bill and what he's done, but I can't help you fight him. When we confronted him, I failed and that demon turned Marco into a statue to remind me of how powerful he was. If I tried anything, he would know and could hurt Marco. I'm sorry, but I can't risk that." Dipper's heart fell at first, but realized she was offering information that could help them in the future.

Motioning for her to go on, he listened as she spoke about her realm and the magic that flowed through it. He could tell by the looks Wendy was shooting him that she wasn't buying it, which was a little ironic considering all the things they went through over the summer. However, he could see why she would be skeptical. Magic? That was just a fairy tale in this dimension. Although…

"Star, you said that there's magic in your dimension, can you still do magic in this one?"

"Well," she started, not really comfortable on the subject, "I can, but if I do, Bill will know. He said he could smell Mewni magic so my hands are tied as long as he has Marco." She was on the verge of tears so he knew this Marco must've meant a lot to her.

"Hey, it's okay. I think he has my twin sister locked up somewhere but I know I would never be able to forgive myself if I didn't save her. She means the world to me, just as I can tell Marco does to you." Dipper had always been socially awkward and, despite current events, he was proud of that little speech. Mable would've been proud too; she never had any trouble cheering people up.

"We just need to focus on one problem at a time." Wendy stepped in, taking charge of the situation. "Marco is in Bills hands now and the only way to free him is to defeat that demon so I'm sorry Star but you may not see him again for a little while." Star nodded, as long as he wasn't being tortured, she could wait a little longer to come up with a better strategy. "Mable, however, probably isn't. think about it, if Bill had Mable in the pyramid, he'd make sure we knew about it.

"Maybe he's hiding her somewhere obvious, taunting you." It made sense, but Dipper hadn't seen anything that looked like a prison recently though. Maybe the Gravity Falls Prison?

"Would a shooting star have any meaning to you guys?" Star asked.

"Yeah, actually it would. Mable's favorite sweater has a shooting star on it. Why?"

"Well, because there's that big purple sphere covered in chains with a shooting star on it" Dipper and Wendy both did a spit take.

"WHAT?" Dipper may not have been looking for a giant floating sphere, but you think he'd at least have noticed it. He'd been taking day trips around the area looking for gravity falls monsters to help in the fight against Bill, but he hadn't found a single one. There where either dead, converted by the wave of weirdness, or very good at hiding.

"Is that normal in this town? I'm never quite sure with earth. You can see it from outside the mall though if you want to see it for yourself." He was out the door before she finished talking.

And there it was, just like she said it'd be. A giant, purple sphere. It was even glowing, how on earth did he miss that? It even had the shooting star symbol, exactly like the one on her sweater.

"She's in there," Dipper said, hope filling his chest for the second time this day, "I can feel it."

**AN: Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, it's my longest one so far. Did you like how Star met Dipper and Wendy? I had a few different points in my head, but I chose this one so I can have Star deal with Mabel's prison. I only have a rough outline on what's going to happen for the rest of the story so if you have any ideas or something you'd like to see feel free to leave a comment or pm me.**

**Hope you're having a good week, and I'll see you in the next one.**


	9. Chapter 9

Star liked to think she was a fairly bright girl, but she had absolutely no idea what had happened over the last few hours. She understood that in order to get to the bubble, a car would be a nice asset. But being ambushed by a bunch of scary men led by a well moisturized boy in a baby blue Halloween costume? Where did that even come from?

Dipper and Wendy weren't even phased, like it was just a regular Thursday, so Star just followed their lead as they punted the half-man into the other men and stole one of the cars. She thought life on Earth was boring, maybe that was just Echo Creek.

Halfway to the dome, the biker gang men caught up with them and this crazy car chase scene happened with these magical bubbles that transformed whatever went through them. Stars personal favorite was when everyone turned into a bird.

Of course, they got encircled and trapped, but Dipper somehow talked Gideon into letting them go and even giving the key to Dipper. Apparently, this Gideon had a crush on Mable and was made the warden over her prison so that she would love him. Star wasn't sure that that was how love worked.

That wasn't even the weirdest part, though. As they were on the final climb to the dome, they came across a man whose head was shaped like a pear (Star was still hungry). Apparently, he had become a legend in the parts and people were singing songs about him.

None of that really mattered to Star, though. All that mattered was getting one step closer to getting Marco back. This bubble prison was one of those steps and Dippers sister would be able to help them. How, Star wasn't entirely sure, but she trusted Dipper.

"Okay gang, this is it." They stood in front of the keyhole for the massive chains enclosing the prison. Dipper walked forward and put the key that Gideon gave him before his sacrifice. "Remember, Bill designed this. Whatever horrors we see, they aren't real."

The chains dissolved as Dipper turned the key. They gave each other a look of determination before stepping into the unknown.

The world turned white; Star had to close her eyes as the others grumbled at the change in atmosphere.

"it's like we're in one of those rooms for a mental patient," Wendy grumbled.

"Maybe we've all gone mad because we actually think we can stop Bill" Dipper countered and the two had a small laugh. Star wasn't sure what a mental patient was or why they all had the same room.

Slowly, the white started to fade into an array of colors. The white over their heads faded into a baby blue sky as buildings rose up around them. They'd walked right into the middle of a street with a big red dog barking at them to get out of his way.

"What is this place?" Sous said as they hurried onto the sidewalk.

"I have no idea, this isn't at all what I imagined."

A bright red Maserati pulled up and the window rolled down to reveal two anime characters. Star wasn't paying attention to them, though. Her eyes were glued to the man in the red hoodie walking away on the other side. If Bill imprisoned Mable here maybe Marco was here too!

She was already on the other side of the street when Dipper yelled for her to comeback. Promptly ignoring them, she tried weaving through the mass of kittens and floating dolphins and other creatures she would've fauned over in any other circumstance, but Marco was her only priority.

"MARCO!" Star couldn't believe it; it was him. She tackled him in a hug as he turned around.

"Star? Is that you? How did you even find me?" he was hugging her back; Star couldn't stop the tears of happiness. She couldn't even respond because she was so overwhelmed, he would just have to settle on a hug for now.

After what felt like actual minutes, she found her voice again. She told Marco all about what she had been up to while he was missing – playing down how lost she had felt without him of course. Star gripped his hand as they walked around, she refused to let him escape her again. They found a nice bench under a tree in one of the cities many parks. Star was a little weirded how squishy everything here was, but that was a small price to pay for Marco.

"Really? You met Dipper?" Star looked at Marco and saw a malicious glint in his eyes. He tilted his head slightly and it disappeared though, must've been a trick of the light.

"He's in here somewhere if you want to meet him. He's real science-y, you'd like him." She stood up and offered her hand to Marco who took the opportunity to pull her back onto the bench. He took a calming breath and looked her in the eyes.

"Star, I've been here a long time and I've had a long time to think about things. I don't want to get captured again and have to live with the regret of not telling you how I feel about you." Stars' eyes widened. He couldn't mea- "I love you, Star. I want to be more than just your best friend."

All thoughts left her brain. This couldn't actually be happening. Marco wanted to date her?

"I.. I don't know what to say, Marco. I mean, this is really bad tim-" he cut her off with a kiss and that was when Star knew something was off. Marco was never that bold when it came to romance, I mean look at how long it took him to even say more than a word to Jackie.

"This isn't right, you aren't right." Marcos smile faded and Star knew she'd been fooled. "Oh god, none of this is real, is it?" Those things he said about her, the words she had wanted to hear since they first met, they were all lies. Star couldn't process it.

"You shouldn't have said that." The sky turned red and suddenly everything around them turned darker, as if a veil had been lifted. Marco was replaced by a writhing mass of insects and… yarn? Star screamed.

"You should've just given up, but You just had To go and Try and Stop Me." His eye slits elongated into slits as his scleras turned yellow. His voice transformed into the chalkboard that only one demon could possess.

"Bill." The word escaped before she could stop herself. Of course this was Bill, who else could be this deranged.

"Of Course!" He exclaimed, obviously pleased with being recognized. "You Messed Up, Star, And Marco _Will_ Pay."

What? No! That wasn't supposed to happen! She was supposed to help the reunite the Pine twins so that they could rescue Marco. She would've never done this if she'd known that Marcos life was at stake.

"You said no magic!" she couldn't help the tears from rolling down her cheeks. "I haven't used any!"

"That's True, But You Should've Known Better Than To Try And Stop Me. Again." Seeing a mass of horrors represent your best friend talk about torturing your best friend was really creeping Star out. "His Screams Will Really Liven The Pyramid Up. Unless…"

"Say, Those Kids Sure Are Annoying," Bill had revealed himself now and his luminescent yellow contrasted sharply against the surrounding area. "I'll Make You A Deal. You Stay With Pine Tree and Shooting Star And Make Sure Whatever They're Planning Fails. They Can't Beat Me But I Don't Like Having My Time Wasted."

He stuck his hand out and it lit into blue flames. "What Do You Say? Do We Have A Deal, Or Are You Going To Be The Reason Marco Screams? All You Have To Do Is One Small Thing."

She had no choice in her mind; the barrier was still up so Bill couldn't escape and as long as she didn't help Dipper and Mable, Marco would be safe. She shook his hand.

"You just leave Marco alone."

**AN: What'd you guys think? I like focusing on what's new because you guys have already seen what Dipper does in the prison bubble so I don't want to spend too much time with him. If you guys want that though, I'll make a chapter about it and we'll go from there. **

**Oh! Also, if you guys have any ideas for a one shot, I'll try my best to write it for you guys. I would prefer it to be over Gravity Falls, SVTFOE, any of the other cartoons (except Steven Universe because I haven't watched it), or any other popular fandom.**

**See y'all next week!**


	10. Chapter 10

Where was Star? They needed to get out of here as soon as possible. And by that, Dipper meant right now.

"Come on Mable, can't you use your creativity or something to make this thing go faster!"

"I lost control of this place! I can't control anything!" After the trial, Mable decided to leave the prison and the place lost all pretenses. The sky turned blood red as the fluffy stuffed animals transformed into hulking monstrosities. Dipper didn't think teddy bears were supposed to have fangs.

Dipper cursed as a radioactive Care Bear got particularly close and he had duck to avoid its claws. He had his sister back, though, and that changed everything for Dipper- and not just because of Weirdmaggedon.

Dipper just missed his sister's ambience. The way she viewed the world with a never-ending stream of childlike wonder. It would be refreshing in the upcoming days.

"Look out!" A black mass dived down from above and tried to kamikaze itself into the Maserati.

Wendy swerved to the right and the creature's talons cut through the door like paper. Its eyes were slits with a yellow tinted sclera.

Bill.

Dipper screamed.

How many nights had those eyes haunted his dreams? This prison was his creating; he had unlimited power here. He was the true warden, not Gideon. Maniacal laughter filled the dome as the winds picked up.

The sky turned bright yellow as Bill appeared. He was massive, nearly blocking out the entire sky. His eye was as big as an Olympic swimming pool.

"Did You Really Think I Wouldn't Notice What You Were Planning?" His words made the Earth quake, as if it too feared Bill.

"Come on… Come on…." Wendy muttered to herself as she floored it. They were out of the city and the creatures were falling behind now.

They reached the end of the dome as a black arm came sweeping from the heavens. The car smashed through the barrier like it was a glass window and the whole thing exploded.

"Dipper! Mable! Are you guys alright!" Dipper groaned. He must've hit his head when the car crashed back into reality. The world was going in and out of focus. He heard his sister gasp and saw three Mable's staring at the newly decorated sky.

"It's like a big claw mark."

Dipper jumped up when the fog cleared from his head. Bill had been in there.

He searched for any sign of the sleep demon. Luckily he was nowhere in sight; crashing through the barrier must've broken his concentration or something.

"That was a close one, Bill almost had us back there, breaking the dome must've severed his connection."

"What are you talking about, Dipper?" He was too busy looking for signs of Star to notice the confusion on the others face.

"Well, Bills arm was about to smack us off the road, but when we broke through the edge of the prison he faded. Now help me look for Star, she should be somewhere around here." Dipper was about to start walking to the cliffs edge to see if she'd fallen over in the explosion but Wendy grabbed him and stared him in the eyes, deadly serious.

"Did you see Bill in there?"

"What do you mean? Of course I saw him – he nearly killed us!"

"Dipper, I never saw Bill." What? Dipper thought it could be because she was so focused on driving that she just happened to miss it but Mable and Sous seemed concerned too.

"Wha – he was so big he was covering the sun! How could you guys miss him!"

"He wasn't there, Dipper, you must have imagined it." Mable's words hit like bricks. He couldn't have imagined it, he was there.

A flash of yellow cut off in the corner of his eye cut off Dippers response. Bill _was_ here. He ran after him, determined to prove he wasn't going crazy.

"DIPPER!" They would follow him; Dipper was sure of it.

Bill was always just ahead of him as he ran through the trees, like an afterimage of the sleep demon. He tripped on a tree root and stumbled into a clearing.

Bill was nowhere to be found, maybe he was never there at all. Dipper shuddered as that crazed laugh was carried over the wind. Dipper was actually losing it; he needed more sleep.

He noticed Star unconscious in the middle of the clearing. Why would Bill lead him here? Nothing was making any sense. He started to pull at his hair, what game was the sleep demon playing?

"Dipper!" The others had finally caught up to him, it seemed. Wendy recognized who was in the clearing. "You found Star? Is she okay?" Mable was confused by Stars presence because she had run away before they found Dippers sister.

He was too stressed to explain everything, so he let Wendy do it for him. Sous listened too because he'd only gotten the SparkNotes version earlier.

Star was starting to come to near the end of the story. Dipper thought about asking where she went in the sphere, but decided against it when he noticed the tears that stained her face.

No one was untouched by Bill.

Whatever happened must've been horrible enough for Star to break down again. Wendy motioned for them to give her a little privacy

"We freed Mable," Wendy said when they had gathered on the other side of the clearing, "There will be consequences. Do any of you know a place to hide?"

There was the bunker, Dipper thought, but Bill knew of that place and it wasn't impervious to his magic by any stretch of the imagination.

"Why don't we go to the Mystery Shack? The rainbow hair should still protect us from Bills… weirdness."

"Of course!" Dipper wanted to slap himself; why hadn't he thought of that? He'd been circumventing the Mystery Shack because he didn't want to see the place destroyed.

He'd been avoiding the absolute safest place in Gravity Falls. What an idiot.

"Marco didn't tell me Earth had unicorns," Star joined the group after making herself appear presentable, like she hadn't been a sobbing mess a few minutes ago. "Do they have bodies or is it just the head?"

"Yeah, Unicorns are big meanies." Dipper couldn't hide his smile, he remembered how the unicorn had been messing around with his sister just for the fun of it. It was funnier now that it was in the past, but apparently Mable still had a grudge.

"Guys," Wendy interjected, "We're getting off track, we need to head to the mystery shack."

"Lead the way," Dipper replied.

**AN: Hey guys! Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoyed it. It's a little shorter than I'd like to be but I wasn't able to spend as much time as I'd wanted to yesterday. Don't worry, I'll make it up in the next chapter.**

**I'm thinking about trying my hand at a HTTYD fanfic in the upcoming weeks, what do you guys think? I'm not sure what the plot would be yet, but I like the characters a lot.**

**See ya.**


	11. Chapter 11

"Ladies. Gentlemen." Bill tapped on Ford like a champagne glass to get his henchmaniacs attention. "This Has Been Fun And All, But It's Time For Us To Go Worldwide!"

He snapped his finger and the back side of his palace disappeared as his minions cheered.

"Go! Set The World Ablaze! Everything was going according to plan, even if the pine twins were together. Even IF they could somehow manage to stop him, that mewman would sabotage them or her precious human would suffoc-

"WHAT!" Bill had felt the force field when his servants slammed into it. This was not supposed to happen!

He floated over to the abomination and gave it a light tap. It rippled with magic.

Mewman magic.

"A FORCE-FIELD!" Bill slammed his gigantic fists at it to test its strength. It didn't budge. His body turned red with fury, who dared to oppose him? Who even had the capability to?

Thinking it over, only two people could have done this. He doubted the Butterfly was powerful enough to have the shield up for this long.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to check in with the boy just to make sure, too bad he couldn't make him go insane. A deal was a deal after all. He needed to talk to his old partner first, though. He was the only person in this wretched town he had bestowed the knowledge of how magic could be harnessed with science.

Good ol' Pointdexter.

(Linebreak)

Star hated lying to her new friends, she really did, but she had to save Marco. No matter the cost. She hoped they would forgive her when everything was over.

That wasn't to say that she didn't have a plan, though. She wasn't going to let that freak win and take over the world; her containment field was still up after all.

She needed to make sure that Dipper and Mable failed in just the right way to where they could still win. She'd already done something that could compromise the twins, but she wanted a back up plan just in case Bill required more from her. As if the guilt wasn't already eating her up inside.

Star watched as the surviving members of Gravity Falls work to complete their project. A massive tree house robot. It would aggravate Bill, but it wouldn't stop him, especially with the flaw she noticed.

The force field around the 'Mystery Shack' was almost identical to the one surrounding the city, except the unicorn hair made it only repel magic and not everything like hers did. The problem was that it wasn't big enough.

The field wouldn't protect the arms and legs. Bill would be able to destroy it once he figured it out, but by that time she and a few others would have been launched into the Pyramid

Then she would save Marco and unleash Hell. Literally.

Speaking of Hell, Dipper was not looking well. The bags under his eyes had darkened and he was constantly looking over his shoulders. Mable had told Star that Dipper had imagined Bill in the prison.

Star had acted concerned, but she knew that Bill _was_ in there. Dipper had blown her off when she'd brought it up, telling her he was better.

He wasn't.

In fact, Dipper was losing it. Everywhere he went he saw Bill; he wasn't even safe in the Mystery Shack. He never actually saw the sleep demon in there, but he could feel his presence.

The air was charged with his energy. Dipper couldn't really explain it, the atmosphere felt like lightning was about to strike.

He refused to let Bill get to him, this rebellion needed a leader and he would face the demons in order to defeat the demons.

Even if it cost him his sanity, he would take down Bill.

His thoughts drifted back to his parents. He hadn't talked to them in weeks, did they know what was happening here? Were they worried about him and Mable?

"Hey, watch out!" a dinosaur's head swung over Dippers head, breaking him out of his daydreams.

They were turning the Mystery Shack into the ultimate Bill-fighting machine. In fact, he was heading to a planning committee meeting so they could finalize the assault.

They had to meet in the woods so that they didn't get in the way of the workers. About a quarter of a mile east of the shack, dipper saw a faint light reflecting off the trees.

"Glad you could finally join us." Mable asked as Dipper groaned, of course he was the last one to show up. Even McGucket was there before him. "You alright, brobro?"

"I'm fine, I just overslept is all." Dipper knew he didn't convince his sister, but she knew better than to confront him in front of all these people.

"I don't know why we're even here." Gruncle Stan started. "We have a good thing going here, why risk it?"

"Because this is Earth!" Star interjected

"And why do you guys want to save the Earth?" Stan countered.

"Because I'm one of the idiots that lives on it!" Wendy jumped in. This wasn't off to a good start, Dipper thought. There would be no hope if they couldn't unite as a team.

"Guys!" Dipper yelled. "We need to stop bickering! We are saving the Earth." He glanced at his Gruncle who was grumbling something under his breath. "Period.

"Now that that's been established, we need a plan." Dipper motioned for Star to take the stage, she knew more about Bills past than the rest of them combined.

"Umm, Hi." Star looked nervous to Dipper; she must not be used to public speaking. "My name is Star and the sleep

Star quickly proved him wrong when she started talking about the sleep demon and what they knew about him. Why did she appear so nervous? She's a natural. Even Stan seemed intrigued by what she had to say, although Dipper wasn't sure if he believed it. Stan was a man who had to see it to believe it and some of the things Star described sounded straight out of a Smile Dip hallucination.

"When Marco and I came through our portal, I set up a forcefield that will keep Bill and his magic contained. I'm using a backup source of magic so it should last a while." Dipper sighed in relief, but I honestly have no idea how long it will last. I've never seen the magical battery so I have no idea what it's capabilities are; I'm honestly surprised it's lasted this long to be honest."

Dippers relief melted. At least he knew his parents were safe for the moment.

"What we need to do is hit Bill while he's contained. Once he's out of here, there will be no stopping him."

**AN: Hey guys! Updating a little bit later than usual today because my girlfriend came back into town today and I spent most of the day with her. This chapters a bit short compared to my other ones, but that's because I've been working on a few original story ideas. I'll keep you guys updated on that front but for now enjoy the new chapter and I'll see y'all next week.**


	12. Chapter 12

"Mable, I'm scared." To say that Mable was worried about her brother was an understatement. He hadn't had a good night's sleep in days because Bill had been messing with his head. Ever since she was freed from her prison, actually. "Everywhere I go, I see that damned sleep demon."

"We'll figure this out brobro." Mable pulled his brother into a hug; it must be hard admitting to someone that you think you're going crazy. The least Mable could do was believe him. Besides, Dipper would never joke about something this serious.

Well, he wouldn't joke about a lot of things. Dipper wasn't really one for things that made people laugh, he was more into science and nerd stuff.

"You don't get it Mable." Dipper was pulling at his hair. His wild brown eyes contrasted sharply against the deep purple under his eyes. "He won't leave me alone. I can just hear his laughter over the winds. It's so quiet that I wonder if I'm imagining it, but then I see his eye in the forest.

"I think he's finally found us – that he's here to kill us, but he just disappears instead. Like he was never there at all." Dippers nightmare was scaring Mable. She knew that this would be in her dreams now, but she wouldn't abandon her brother in his time of need.

"It doesn't make any sense, why would he target me?"

"Who knows why Bill does anything?"

"Bill may be a snake, but he always has a reason for everything he does." Dipper pulled out of the hug and looked Mable in the eye. "think about it – everything Bill has done has been to free himself from the Nightmare Realm and raze the universe. How does playing mind games help him?"

"Maybe he views you as a threat?"

"I don't think so," Dipper said, "He could've killed me or taken me prisoner like he did with Ford. In his eyes, I was nothing. He didn't even seem concerned when I was able to escape."

"Until you freed me." It all clicked into place. Dipper wasn't a threat by himself. They'd always defeated Bill as a team. "I think Bill is messing with you to keep us from being at our best because…"

"He knows we can beat him together!" Dipper finished.

Hehe, Mable loved twin moments.

"Exactly!" Mable beamed as she saw a glimmer of hope strike in her brother's eyes for the first time in days. "You're a genius Mable!"

"Aww, thanks." Mable pulled her brother into another hug before shoving him towards the temporary bedrooms. "Now, go try and some sleep. We attack at dawn!"

Dipper laughed at his sisters antics and Mable beamed. She loved how she was always able to put a smile on her brothers face, no matter what color the sky was.

When he was out of site, Mable headed back inside to make sure everything had been put together according to the plan.

After a week of planning and building, the Mystery shack robo-gladiator thing was complete. Mable wasn't sure what to call it if she was being honest with herself.

Mable headed up to her former bedroom and central command station. Dipper's bed was replaced by gears and pipes; the whole room smelled of burnt oil too. Where McGucket actually got the supplies to transform the Shack was beyond Mable.

She decided it was best not to ask.

Behind the command center was the communications center. Mable was proud to say that she was the genius who suggested that they use string cans to get messages across the war machine. The Multi-Bear was put in charge of relaying messages across the house.

The front wall had been knocked out and replaced with a big looking glass. Couldn't defeat Bill if you couldn't see him. Mable had already taken the time to write some inspirational messages with a dry erase marker on it.

A little positivity could go a long way in this bleak world.

The right side of the room that used to be where Mable slept was now full of tubes. They reminded Mable of the tubes in those old mail rooms where the mail was pushed like a torpedo towards people's offices.

When Bill became distracted, the final attack force would be launched from the total pole cannon into the sleep demon's palace. They could only launch a few people or there wouldn't be enough left behind to face Bill.

From there, the main extraction team would free Gruncle Ford along with the rest of the townspeople. Dipper had told her that Ford knew of another way to defeat Bill, so he was the groups number one priority.

Star and Mable, however, had been allowed to pursue a different goal. When Mable had heard about what became of Marco, she vowed to help Star get her friend safe. Once that was through, Star had promised to help in any way she could.

Mable couldn't wait to see what the magic wand could do.

Star had seemed apprehensive about using her magic. Something about the way her eyes flashed, as if she wasn't being completely upfront with her powers. Mable wasn't sure why Star was so worried; Bill wouldn't be able to keep up with the magic spells she had heard of. They reminded her of the time she used her imagination to defeat Bill with kitten fists.

Maybe Star was planning on abandoning ship once Marco was out of harm's way. Leaving everyone else to fend for themselves.

Mable shook her head. She didn't think that Star would leave once her friend was safe, she just wasn't that type of person. Mable would know, she was an excellent judge of character. Besides, those two came here on their own to help the situation, they could've left the second Bill crossed over. No, Star would fight until the end.

Maybe she just felt bad that her hands were tied at the moment. All she could do was talk about him and his history, something Dipper had been very interested about (classic Dipper).

Maybe Mable would make her a sweater to make her feel better. Something to warm her up and hopefully put a smile on her face.

Actually, thinking about it, everyone seemed apprehensive about tomorrow. She should make everyone a sweater.

"What a great idea." Mable mumbled to herself. She'd need to start working if she wanted to have them all ready by tonight's campfire.

**AN: Hey guys! Hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter. I thought about getting to a fight scene soon but I thought it'd be better to dive into what's going on with Dipper and Mable instead. Next chapter will probably focus on Star and Bill. **

**I also just realized that this will be kind of a shorter story, maybe somewhere in the 20 – 25k range. Don't worry though, I have a few ideas for a sequel if you guys want it.**

**Anyways, see y'all next week!**


	13. Chapter 13

"I know you guys are worried about tomorrow." The fire crackled and hissed as Mable addressed the crowd. It'd started drizzling an hour or two ago and a hazy fog had descended upon the area. Star was amazed that they could build a big enough fire for everyone to sit around it. The way the creatures and humans sat as equals brought a tear to her eyes; if only Mewni could be this way.

"The fear that surrounds us is cold and daunting. I can't deny that I'm scared, but not to worry. I have the perfect solution!" Mable paused for dramatic effect and Star couldn't help but lean forward. The air was hazed with smoke so she had to lean to her left to get a better look.

"I made everyone here a sweater!" Mable put her hand in the roughsack behind her and pulled out a blue and green sweater with a dark green pine tree on it. She turned and gave it to her brother, who proudly put it on.

"There's no need to face your fears alone, these sweaters unite us." Star had no idea Mable had this speech inside of her, the only sound besides Mable's inspiring words was the occasional pop of the fire. Everyone was entranced. Even the cold droplets of water couldn't dampen their spirits anymore.

"Together, we are stronger. Our bond will hold strong against Evil. Everyone here is officially a family, and a family protects their own." Star looked down at her sweater it was light pink and had her wand in the middle.

Star felt like a fraud. She was actively sabotaging this family. She had to get out of here. When Star thought no one was looking at her she bailed. Her tears stained her face.

She couldn't do this. The guilt was eating her up, what would Marco think of her when he found out what she did to free him?

He would think she was a monster.

The fire no longer warmed her and the moist air chilled her to the bone.

"Starrr!" Of course Dipper would be the one to go looking for her. She had done him the most wrong.

"Star, there you are," Dipper must've been running all over the place, he was panting pretty heavily. It only made Star feel worse. "why'd you leave the fire?"

Star thought about lying again. She could say that she had to use the bathroom or something.

No.

No more lies. She wiped the tears away; it was time to set things right.

"I have a confession, Dipper, and you're not going to like it." Star steeled herself for what was about to happen. She looked Dipper in the eye.

"I… I saw Bill in Mable's prison." Dipper jumped.

"You did?! Why didn't you say anything? I've been seeing him all over the place too!"

"No, you haven't." Dippers confused face broke Stars heart.

"What do you mean? He's been haunting me – I know I'm not going crazy!"

"I know you're not going crazy, let me explain. I left you guys in that place because I thought I saw Marco, I thought that since Mable was imprisoned there that maybe he was too.

"I was wrong. Bill had led me away from the group and after… messing with with my head, he told me he would torture Marco since I was helping you guys. He then gave me a deal; in exchange for Marcos well-being… I would have to sabotage you guys. I had no choice."

Dipper looked like he had been shot.

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"I've been using my magic to make you hallucinate Bill, but you have to understand that I didn't want to!" Star couldn't stop the words from spilling from her mouth.

"Marco was only here because I asked him to come and I would never be able to live with myself if anything would happen to him. Especially with Bill, you know he's psychotic. He would torture Marco forever – I couldn't let – I just couldn't let it happen to him.

"So, I did what he demanded. I created a spell that would make you hallucinate you worst fears. I'm so, so sorry Dipper. I couldn't live with myself if Marco was harmed, but look at what I did instead!" The tears were back on Stars face with a vengeance. Her emotional state was beyond shattered.

"I'm a monster…" Star whispered. Unable to hear Dippers response, she turned and ran.

Dipper didn't try to follow her this time. And why would he? Star had confessed to messing with his sanity. She was the reason why he had trouble sleeping at night.

Star had to stop running after a few minutes, she was so used to magic transportation, maybe she should start… working out? Was that what the humans called it? Mewmans usually had a physically demanding lifestyle, they were as fit as a warnicorn out of the womb.

Star looked around.

She was totally lost.

Cursing under her breath, Star tried to get orientated. Where would she go, though? She doubted Dipper and Mable would just welcome her back into that group. That bridge was so burned Star could smell the smoke.

The trees all looked the same to Star.

Tall.

Dark.

Made of wood.

Surrounded by fog.

Great.

"Ugh." Why was this so frustrating? Oh yeah, because she'd backstabbed the people who took her in and ran away. Like an idiot.

After making a full 360, twice, Star picked a direction and started walking. Her thoughts formed wolves lurking in the underbrush; their glowing yellow eyes locked on her. They could devour her in seconds but instead they decided to torment her mind instead.

Maybe Star should try and sleep. She would be able to think more clearly in the morning. There wasn't a good spot to fall asleep though. Anything could be walking through this forest and she'd heard the telltale sound of giant bat wings a few times since she left Dipper.

Star kept walking for another half-hour before collapsing against a tree. Her brain was shutting down, her emotions had completely drained the life out of her. The rough bark felt like a white, fluffy cloud.

Something was telling her not to fall asleep; that it was a bad idea. But she couldn't fight the waves of drowsiness that was hitting her like a tsunami.

"HAHahAHha!" Blue fire erupted around Star. The forest burned before her eyes and smoke charred her lungs. A chunk of the flames rose above her and formed a triangle. A bright flash blinded Star and when her vision cleared Bill was a few inches from her face.

Was this a dream? Star didn't remember falling asleep, but it was hard to believe she was facing him in person again. She started to hyperventilate, her mind was shutting down at the mere thought of what could happen.

"Did You Really Think I Wouldn't Notice When You Broke Your Deal?" Bill grabbed Star and threw her against one of the few trees that hadn't caught fire yet. The pain in her back erased any hopes that Star was in a dream.

"All You Had To Do Was Keep Your Mouth Shut. I Suppose I Should Be Thanking You, Though." What was Bill talking about? All the anger was replaced with a quiet intensity, it cut through roar of the forest fire like a scalpel.

"You See, I'm Having A Little Trouble Getting Out Of This Stupid Town And Point Dexter Was A Bust. That Means You Must've Been The One To Create The Force Field, Some Kind Of New Magic Must've Been Developed To Keep It Running For This Long." Point Dexter? Star had no idea what Bill was talking about. The sleep demon conjured up pink martini with the same blue fire on top. He gingerly took a sip with his eye and relaxed into a floating red recliner.

"I Would Delve Into Your Mind And Figure Out All Your Little Secrets, But As A Magic User, Your Naturally Resistant To My… Charm." His harmless façade faded as Bill sat up and stared right into Stars soul.

"That Being Said," His harmless façade faded as Bill sat up and stared right into Stars soul. "The Same Can't Be Said For Your Friend."

Star knew this was coming, but to actually hear Bill say them out loud was beyond terrifying.

"I Wasn't Able To Lay A Finger On Him Because Of Our Little Deal." The burning trees were reflected in Bills sclera and Star truly understood why he was called a sleep_ Demon_. He was beyond terrifying." However, You Just Broke That Deal. I'll make Sure His Screams Are Heard Throughout The Valley Until That Retched Force Field Is Taken Down."

With that, Bill disappeared and the fire was replaced with moss. His maniacal reverberated off the trees.

What had she done?

**AN: Howdy! Here's the next chapter in this story, hope y'all enjoy it. If it seemed like parts of the chapter were a little left field, I totally get it. Star being the one to haunt Dipper was a concept I'd been playing with for a while but I didn't fully commit to it until this chapter. I went back and changed a few pieces of previous chapters to hint at it. Bonus points to whoever finds which chapters I changed.**

**Also, why didn't any of you tell me I said the night-o-sphere in the summary?! That's from adventure time! My bad guys whoops.**

**See you next week!**


	14. Chapter 14

"I mean, wouldn't you do the same thing about me?" Mabel would admit that she was shocked to hear about Stars betrayal, but she couldn't really blame her.

"Of course, I would, but you're my twin sister! She messed with my sanity for a friend!"

"Are you saying you wouldn't do whatever it took to keep Wendy safe?"

Mabel watched as Dippers retort died in his throat. She could tell that he was hurt by Star but he needed to realize that she had no other choice.

"Look, I'm not saying Star did the right thing. In fact, what she did was really messed up. But she came clean and we can assume that Marco is now paying for it.

"She sacrificed her friend's well-being to make sure we have the best chance of defeating Bill in a few hours. We need to make it count."

He nodded in defeat, but apparently had one more question on his mind.

"Do you think Star will come out to battle Bill? Or do you think she will stay out of it in an effort to appease Bill?"

Now it was Mabel's turn to hesitate. Would Star return to help? What if she decided to aid Bill during the siege to atone for breaking her deal with the demon? From the stories Star told her, her magic could obliterate the Mystery Shack Attack Force.

"Honestly?" Mabel saw no reason to lie to her brother, but she thought it'd be best not to voice where her thought train was heading.

"There's no reason to worry about it too much. It's out of our control."

"You're right. I think I might be able to get a few hours of real sleep haunt-free now." Dipper let out a huge yawn and Mabel noticed just how tired her brother must be. The bags under had long since been upgraded to full sets of luggage. Star really knew how to cause some damage; it was a wonder Dipper was even standing.

They walked to the sleeping tents together. Mabel ignored all the foreboding shadows on the path, instead taking the opportunity to be thankful that she had her brother by her side.

The pyramid was blotted the stars behind it. It was a black hole that had sucked the whole town inside of it, but now the town was fighting back.

Dipper had to admit he was feeling better. Just a few hours of sleep had done a lot for him. Dipper could think more clearly. He was still haunted by Star's actions. He wasn't sure how to feel about it, but at least he was more prepared to cross that bridge when they got to it.

"Ah hoot-n-nani! Let's get this show on the road!" Fiddleford was manning the main station. Dipper had no idea how the man knew what all the levers did. There were at least twenty of them, all pointing in a different direction.

Dipper turned from the window and surveyed the command room. Fiddleford was at the control center, ready for action. The multi-bear was already relaying messages across the Shack through the stringed cans. They were all doing their jobs, but Dipper had yet to properly do his. They couldn't survive without a leader.

Dipper walked to the 1MC **(points if you guys know what this. Hint, it's with ships) **that'd been set up and thought over the speech he'd made up in his earlier. It was garbage. He thought back to all the times he'd try to tell Wendy how he felt about her. They'd all been forced and awkward. That shapeshifter had forced him to come up with the courage to just speak from his heart. It was when he spoke with emotions, not carefully choreographed vocabulary, that he was able to best express himself. Best thing to do then was wing it.

Dipper crumpled the paper and threw it away, there would be no running back to the safety of a prepped speech.

"Um… Dipper here. Just wanted to let you guys know what's up." Dipper had no idea how the guys in the movies made it look so easy. His hands were already clammy. He took a long breath.

And slowly released it. His hands unclenched. He had this.

"This is it, guys. This is what we've been preparing for. The enemy is right around the corner. Beyond us lays the gates of hell.

"They are trying to take over our world. This isn't an invasion, though. It's an extinction plan. If Bill gets what he wants, humanity as a whole will cease to exist. Those that survive will only be a husk of what we once were.

"We are the what's standing in between Bill and his goal. And every creature in that palace is what's standing between us and survival. And to be clear, when I say creatures, I mean those freaks from outer space. If you are in the Mystery Shack, you are family. Period.

"No matter what happens, protect one another. We can do this." The cheers reverberated through the walls.

"That was one honkie tonk of a speech, kid." McGucket gave another whoop and slapped Dipper on the back. He beamed, maybe he wasn't a total failure of a leader after all.

The Mystery Shack (they should've thought of a cool nickname) started shaking as it rose from the ground. Fiddleford had rigged the portal beneath the shack to be both the main power source and a high-power laser cannon. That man was the definition of a mad genius.

Apparently, the cannon had a large cooldown. Since it drained from the battery source as well, they had to make sure every shot counted. They had two or three, max.

Dipper wished he could see what this beast looked like from the ground. He could only imagine how cool the arms looked. One of the arms was just a simple claw mechanism, but the other was a literal T-Rex head. Fiddleford had also rigged his old Lochness Monster to act as tail that had the jaw strength to crush cars. That was the definition of rad.

Luckily the pyramid wasn't too far away because the Shack rocked more than a boat in a hurricane. The legs weren't exactly what you would call 'high quality'. They were rusting heavily and caused huge jerking motions. Even Mabel was looking a little green.

As they approached the pyramid, Dipper thought he'd heard a soft humming sound. It wasn't consistent, though. It stopped and started at random times and the pitch wavered. As they continued to get closer, the sound became louder and more defined. It wasn't long Dipper knew exactly what he was hearing

The scouts that they'd sent out for reconnaissance after the bonfire had reported a massive party going on. They also said they heard a sound that was muffled by the music being blasted, but there was no music anymore. All that remained was the screaming.

Bill had to be magnifying it, somehow. There was no way a human could produce those inhuman noises.

Dipper shuddered. He suddenly understood why Star did what she did, it was terrible just bearing witness.

All of a sudden it stopped. The music and the screaming; it seemed as if they'd been spotted. Dipper was actually thankful, though. The pyramid was a good hundred and fifty feet in the air and the Shack had no real method of reaching it. If Bill didn't rise to the occasion then the robot was useless. It was a big gamble that no one had really considered.

Bill shimmered into existence; his singular eye trained on them.

"Well, Would You Look At That? Someone Thinks They Can Stop Me? Hilarious!" His form erupted in laughter.

And flames. His bricks separated from each other as white flames ignited from within. Did Bill have some sort of internal anatomy? Or was he just pure weirdness? Dipper decided it may not be the best idea to ask him to find out.

"I'm A Little… Preoccupied At The Moment." Dipper couldn't breathe. He was talking about Marco. Bill shook his hand like he was rolling a pair of dice. When he opened his palm, meteorites came crashing to the ground. Out of the smoking craters came the stuff of nightmares. The henchmaniacs.

"Have Fun!" As they walked out, they grew in size. They went from the size of a regular human being to matching the size of the Mystery Shack. their features darkened as if there was a permanent shadow over their faces. The eyes started glowing red, too.

The women with the fiery hair pointed right at Dipper through the window. She grunted and yelled an incomprehensible war chant. Apparently, aliens didn't speak English, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that she was the leader.

The giant beast that looked like a moldy loaf of bread charged.

"Monster! Twelve o'clock!" the multi-bear was busy relaying the message to the people who weren't near a window. Fiddleford gave a holler and started slapping at the levers and buttons, seemingly at random. It worked though as Dipper was thrown to the left as the Shack dove to the right.

The team in charge of the left arm swung in a wide arc. It was clumsy, though, and went wide. The living pair of dentures had hidden behind the Loaf. It was smaller and more agile and was able to match the Mystery Shacks juke. Its teeth landed on the left leg.

"Multi-Bear! Get the tail crew on Chompers!" one of the heads nodded and Dipper was able to watch as the lochness monster head snaked around to the undercarriage. Too busy trying to immobilize the enemy, it didn't notice the threat until it was thrown into the nearby cliffside.

"One down, five to go."

8-ball, the slouching goblin with 8-balls for eyes, was next on the menu. He ran forward and leapt in the air.

"HOLD ON!" Fiddleford threw the lever to his left and the whole Mystery Shack spun in a giant circle. 8-ball was hit by the amber coated dinosaur head like a baseball bat. Dipper and Mabel were thrown by the centrifugal force.

"Maybe a little warning next time?"

"Yessiree!" Maybe the old man was having just a little bit _too_ much fun. Dipper sure wasn't going to stop him, though. This was his day of revenge. Those demons (mostly Bill, but that reckoning would come later) had stolen years of his sanity. Plus, he was really good at staying alive.

The loaf of stone came charging from behind and this time the Mystery Shack was grazed in the encounter.

"Hey!" Gruncle Stan yelled. "They weren't supposed to be able to touch my Mystery Shack!"

"Damage report!" Dipper yelled. A few windows had been shattered and some paint was scraped off. Nothing too bad this time, but Stan was right. Maybe the unicorn hair was specifically for Bill. Or maybe it'd stopped working entirely. They needed to be a lot more careful.

The rhombus was next, and boy was it stupid. It'd soared high in the air hoping to avoid detection. It took a dive trying to kamikaze its way through the command center. Instead it landed right in the lochness monsters' mouth. Grenda was in charge of that division and Dipper could hear her delight as she swung the poor creature around like an infant treats a toy. He almost felt sorry for it.

Almost.

The fiery demoness was lurking behind enemy lines until it was just her, the juggernaut loaf, and the Mystery Shack. Nothing they'd done had been able to stop that behemoth.

She pounced, but unlike some of the other demons, she stayed low to the ground. If the loaf was a an 18-wheeler, large and sluggish, then the fiery demon was a motorcycle, small and agile. She was never in the same spot for more than a second, constantly moving around the playing field.

The Shack tried to kick her but she dodged to the left. She was able to rake her fire tipped nails against the legs armor. Luckily there was a billboard covering the kneecaps. She laughed in delight as the paint sizzled from the heat.

"she's a tricky one, bro bro." Mabel was right, they weren't coordinated enough to defeat her. She was just too fast. The Loaf was charging at them again. Instead of dodging it, Fiddleford had the Shack stand its ground. They braced for impact and were still thrown from their positions. That thing was just an unstoppable force.

The gang was just able to hold it together. They were still losing ground, though.

Dipper turned to McGucket to yell at him to do something, but the old man was staring intently out the window. He was mumbling quietly to himself. Something must've happened outside because he suddenly slammed on a blue button behind him.

A distinct humming permeated his friend's anxious screams. It sounded like a UFO in those corny horror movies he used to watch with Wendy.

An explosion emanated from below Dipper as a high-pitched whirring sound clawed at his eardrums. He looked out the window and was immediately blinded by the blazing azure laser beam. Dipper screamed in surprise. His felt as if the laser had permanently imprinted itself on his retinas.

"What the heck was that!" Dipper may not have used those exact words, but he was too stunned to notice.

"That there was a weaponized teleporter. I just done vaporized our enemies, Yeee Haww!"

Enemies? Dipper took another look out the window as his vision cleared up and saw that the gray loaf of evil had a giant cylinder taken from the middle. It was slumped to one side and a viscous green liquid was oozing out.

Beyond that, however, was an even more surprising shot. The fiery demoness had been caught in the attack. She was missing her entire torso and lay unmoving in the ground. That crazy old man had lined up the shot to take two birds with one stone, or two monsters with one weaponized portal.

"Wow, great shot, but maybe a little warn-"

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Bill materialized in front of them. His body shook in rage as he saw the slaughtered henchmaniacs. His body momentarily blurred out of focus. It looked like he was having trouble containing his pyramidal form.

"I'm Going To Make You Eat Each Other's Inner Organs For That!" He grew to the size of a skyscraper and slammed his fists into the Mystery Shack. Dipper flinched as the world darkened. This was it, no one could say they didn't at least try to stop Bill.

The ground shook and the trees swayed intensely from the shockwaves of the impact, but when the dust cleared, the Shack was still standing. An opaque shield filled with strange hieroglyphs surrounded them before melting away. The unicorn hair forcefield worked!

Dipper and Mabel cried out in joy among the others. Bill was not pleased. He shrunk back down to match the jerry-rigged robot that had somehow managed to survive a force that could've wiped out the dinosaurs.

"WHAT?! YOU THINK THIS WILL STOP ME?!" Bill's body turned red and his eye turned into a black vortex, talk about wearing your emotions. He got into their faces as he threw insult after insult, he also threw punches that reflected off the force-field.

"Get ready everyone, this is it! Etraction team, to your stations!" Dipper yelled over the 1MC. The tubes in the main command room opened and they all clambered inside. As Bill got particularly close, the dinosaur arm launched into action. It grabbed Bill's eye and yanked it out.

His scream was bloodcurdling.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH ENERGY GOES INTO MAKING A NEW EYE!" Blinded by fury and, well, blindness, Bill didn't notice the group launched out of the totem pole cannon as the Shack started its offense.

The wind howled in Dippers ear as they arced through the sky. They pulled open their parachutes at the last second and tumbled into the triangular hole in the side of the pyramid. Dippers shoulders hurt from the parachute yanking him out of his decent, but he'd rather be sore than dead. Besides, everything was going a lot better than he expected.

Considering Dipper had expected to be obliterated by Bill without a second glance, it wasn't too much of an achievement and they still had a long way to go before the day was over. He glanced back through the window and his jaw dropped.

Bill was pinned underneath the mystery shack! Could they stop him here? The demon was throwing punch after punch, but nothing was getting through!

…Until he aimed for the legs. Dipper and the others watched in horror as Bill ripped them apart. He stood victorious over the Mystery Shack.

"I May Not Be Able To Get In There Yet! But That Force Field Will Break Eventually And You Guys Will Run Out Of Food Soon!" Since his target was now immobile, Bill grew extra appendages and started to rain blows down on the mystery shack.

Dipper could only stand there and watch as cracks started to appear on the force field.

**AN: Wow, that was more than double the length of some of my previous chapters! I hope you guys enjoyed it. I realized that a thousand words per chapter is actually pretty short so I'm going to try and keep up with the new length if you guys want. Also, this story passed 20k words! I know there are tons of stories with more, but I'm pretty proud of myself.**

**See you guys in a week!**


	15. Chapter 15

Star wasn't able to get much sleep last night. Every time she either saw Dippers broken face or Marcos face, bleeding tears. She ended up huddled in the roots of a giant hardwood tree.

Her stomach growled, she hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday, and even then, it was only a snack. Her emotional state had hampered her hunger for the past several days.

What was she going to do? She couldn't rescue Marco on her own, Bill had stopped her ances- Eclipsa's most powerful spell. Star had to remind herself that they weren't actually related. She'd been so focused on the present, she forgot about what the future could look like. Eclipsa had birthright to the throne, would she take it from the Butterfly family? Would they be forced to leave the castle?

A low rumble shook her from her thoughts. The ground vibrated Star. Of course! Dipper and Mabel had planned to attack Bill's pyramid early this morning. She owed it to them to help.

Star started to stand up but hesitated. Would they want her? What if Dipper would rather her gone? She shook her head; they needed all the help they could get. She needed to go and at least try to help.

Star started running towards the floating pyramid. She almost lost her footing as the ground rumbled. The battle for Earth had started. Her run turned into a sprint as she felt the earth shuddered again.

At first Star hated the mini quakes, but then she realized that it meant the fight was still raging. That her new friends were still fighting.

Star finally got to the tree line and could what she saw made her whoop for joy. The mystery shack had grabbed hold of Bills eye and ripped it out. Star felt a sick sense of pleasure overtake her. That monster was getting what he deserved.

As Bill was screaming, the totem pole changed its angle slightly. Star watched as tiny dots were shot out of it. The rescue team was on its way, maybe they would save Marco. She watched as the parachutes disappeared into the pyramid.

"Hey Achilles! Nice Heel!" Star turned her attention back to the brawl between Bill and the Mystery Shack, except it wasn't a brawl anymore. Bill had noticed the shield didn't cover the entire robot and had ripped the legs off. The mystery shack was immobile now.

Bill wasted no time. He threw punch after punch. Star watched in horror as cracks started to appear on the shield. She needed to do something.

Star unfroze as her instincts took over. Her eyes glowed blazing white and she raised her wand. She wouldn't sit by any longer. Her wand turned into a rocket launcher and she launched the magical detonation device towards the demon. It hit his back and exploded in rainbows. And fire. Star was even thrown off her feet by the concussive blast.

When she looked back at Bill, it was almost as if she was looking at a picture. The demon looked stunned; his swing stopped midflight. It was if the spell had actually hurt him, there was even a smoking crater on his back. Maybe, he'd been able to shrug off magic in the book of spells because he'd known about them.

"WHAT!?" Star could just barely make out what Bill said because of the ringing in her ears. His bricks separated, spun one hundred eighty degrees, and reconnected. It was the weirdest way Star had ever seen something turn around.

"Star Butterfly, I Thought You'd Be Off Crying. No Matter. This Won't Take Long." Laser beams shot out of his fingertips. They weren't red like in those movies she'd watch with Marco on movie night, though. They were white in the center and tinted neon green on the edges. Star jumped back as the smell of acid filled her nose. Everything the lasers touched was melting like plastic. Bill wasn't holding back this time.

Well neither would Star.

(Line Break)

Dipper couldn't believe it.

Star had not only come back, but she'd saved his friends in the mystery shack and was now fighting Bill one on one. He watched as rainbows and narwhales covered the ground. It reminded Dipper of when he'd left the Dusk 2 Dawn convenience store and came across the liquid rainbow goo in the middle of the town. He'd almost run into Star days before they actually met, interesting.

"C'mon Dipper, Star can handle herself. We need to free the people." Wendy shook him out of his daydreams. She was right, they had a job to do and there was no telling how long Star would be able to hold Bill off.

He'd heard of the throne when Star had told them what to expect, but to actually see it was just unreal. He could make out faces of people he knew; Robbie, Gideons dad, Lazy Susan. Even the pizza guy was stone. And perched on the left armrest was Great Uncle Ford!

"Start pulling on people! We need to get them out of here!"

"It's the mayor! He's the cornerstone!" Dipper looked up. Gideon was stuck in what appeared to be a very large bird cage off to the left of the throne of human agony. He was wearing a frilly blue dress and a full face of makeup. Poor Gideon.

They quickly searched for Tyler (the mayor) and found him on the front right leg of the throne. When they pulled him out, the entire thing collapsed. As the stone statues fell, they reverted back to their original forms. Human.

"Ughh, my head." Lazy Susan rubbed her eyes and looked around. "Wait… Where am I?" Wendy threw her out of the way to get to her father, whom Susan had landed on. Dipper looked around; Ford must be around here somewhere. He'd been mixed in with all the other people after the collapse.

"Dipper! My boy, you've done it! Oh I knew you would." Dipper knew that rough voice anywhere. He turned around, only to be thrown into a hug. He'd done it, he'd saved Ford. The weight that'd been weighing him down vanished.

"Ford! We have to hurry and stop Bill. Star can only keep him occupied for so long."

"Star?" Ford shook his head. "No matter, we can stop him now. Does anyone have some kind of paint!"

Robbie came forward with some spray paint he'd planned on using to vandalize the pyramid, typical. Ford snatched it and started to draw a big circle on the floor. Dipper was helping his mentor as much as he could when Mabel found him.

"Dipper! You need to see this." She yanked Dippers hand and dragged him towards one of the side chambers. Inside one of the doors was a young teenager. He was wearing the remains of a red hoodie; it'd been torn to shreds. There was blood splattered on the walls and the whole place smelled of iron and it left a metallic taste hanging in the air.

"Oh my… help me get him out of here, Mabel." Together, they were able to lift him up and dragged him back to the main area. This must be Marco. Dipper would ask him, but he wasn't entirely conscious. In fact, his only signs of life were the occasional moan to being moved.

Dipper took off his puffy vest and put it under the poor man's head. There was a particularly nasty gash over his left eye that'd definitely scar over. If he survived. His skin was white, as if most of the blood had been drained out of him. Remembering the red on the walls, Dipper decided it probably had been.

"Hey Dipper! Come over here! And bring Mabel!" Dipper reluctantly left Marco. Ford had drawn a symbol that looked vaguely familiar. It was a circle, about twenty feet in diameter, with various symbols inside the perimeter. It was the symbols! He recognized the shooting star that was on Mabel's favorite sweatshirt. She was even wearing it now!

"I first came across these symbols years ago, back when I was still working with Bill. I had no idea what these symbols meant, but perhaps it was because the time wasn't right yet." Robbie came up and noticed one of the other symbols.

"Woah… destiny sweater." It was the stupid stitched up heart that he'd worn for years. Dipper wondered how often it got washed. Not often enough.

Each symbol could be traced to someone who had either been part of the rescue party or one of the rescued. There was even a symbol for Gruncle Stan. Dipper was honestly surprised he'd come. He'd half expected him to stick it to the man and stay back.

Dippers own symbol was the pine tree. It was crazy to think that there was an ancient circle that had accurately been able to guess what hat he'd be wearing today.

Dipper listened to the battle going on outside while the others marveled at the magical circle. He could hear the ground rumble as multiple detonations went off. Star must really be giving Bill a run for his money. Occasional bright flashes lit up the inside of the pyramid from the window. Dipper could almost imagine that it was just a thunderstorm outside and not the battle for all humanity.

"I spent _years _trying to bring you back! I even came on this suicide mission to save you!" Gruncle Stans explosion whipped Dipper back into the moment. He was yelling at his brother. "And what do I get?! Nothing! Not even a thank you!

"Well I'm sick and tired of waiting for it, I'm out of here!" Stan threw his hat on the ground and stomped away.

"Stan, wait!" Ford called out. He ran over to his twin. "You're right. You've done a lot for me over the years and I've done nothing to show my appreciation for it. Thank you."

"That's all I wanted, was that so hard?"

"Well, considering you were the reason I was put in all those situa-" Gruncle Stan tackled Ford to the ground.

"I can't believe you!" Dipper tried to intervene, but they were too far gone to care. Their emotions had been building up for weeks now, there was no stopping this brawl. Stanley threw a wicked right hook at his brother. His nose started to dribble blood into his mouth.

"You're ruining everything!" Ford yelled at Stanley. "All you had to do was hold my hand, and we could've defeated Bill!"

"Me?! You're the one that let that demon into your head! You built the very thing that let him cross through!" Gruncle Stan stood up and left his brother bleeding on the floor. He was suddenly very calm, and that was even more scary. "Don't lecture me on your lack of foresight."

Everyone had stopped to watch the brawl and it was dead silent. Gruncle Stan spit out blood on the floor, turned around, and walked away. Ford didn't attempt to get up. The words had hurt worse than the punches.

Something wasn't right, and not just with the family relationship. Dipper had missed something; he was sure of it. Suddenly it came to him. The noise! It was still dead silent after that brawl. He should be able to hear the fight going on outside.

"Oh Wow! That Was Interesting!" Bill's voice loomed from above him and the limp form of Star Butterfly was unceremoniously dropped onto the ground.

Unmoving.

**AN: Hey guys. I'll be honest, this isn't my most polished chapter, but I have been super busy this week. I had two exams, two finals, and a poster presentation. I am also auditioning for a drum corps group tomorrow and have been practicing a lot for that recently. My workload lightens up next week so you can expect a longer chapter. Thanks for getting this far in the story, it means a lot.**

**See y'all next week.**


	16. Chapter 16

"You Guys Miss Me?" Bill looked around at the gang. "No? Oh Well." He snapped his fingers and the people who were in the circle disappeared. Red tapestries unfurled on the back wall behind where the throne used to be, with images of Dippers friends on them. Their faces had absolute terror imprinted on them.

A triangular prison surrounded Dipper, Mabel, Gruncle Stan, Great Uncle Ford, and Star. Bill didn't even glance in Marcos direction, which may because he wasn't moving. Was he even still alive? Star groaned, fighting Bill alone must've taken a huge tole on her body.

Dipper took a closer look at Bill. It looked like he'd been injured by Star. There were scratch marks on his bricks and one of his arms was covered in rainbow goo.

"Hey Gideon, Shouldn't You Be Dancing?" Gideon started crying as his tapping reverberated throughout the hall. "Now Star, Be A Dear And Let This Force Field Fade."

"Never…" Star answered weakly. Her body glistened with sweat and now that she'd stopped moving, the sweat chilled her skin. She slowly opened her eyes and found out she was in some form of cage. The bars were uneven and crossed each other at random angles. Everything that Bill did was chaotic.

Bill's rant was blurred out as Star noticed the limp body on the floor. The red hoodie was unmistakable. Marco was so close to her; she could almost reach out and touch him. Well, she could if her arms were about twenty feet longer. He didn't seem to be moving much, was he asleep or something. Silly Marco.

"STAR! Listen To Me!" Bill slammed his fist against the cage. He obviously wasn't very pleased with her lack of focus. But Star was exhausted, if only she'd found something to eat.

"You're not my mom, chill out." Star let out a little giggle, it'd be weird if an interdimensional sleep demon was her mom. Did Bill even have a gender? He didn't seem to like her response, but his words sounded distorted, like she was underwater.

"I think it's very possible that the girl has a concussion, why do you want her?" The old grumpy man said. He seemed so serious with his big glasses and trench coat, like the world was at stake or something.

It all came back to her with a snap. The world was at stake! Marco wasn't asleep – he was unconscious. He'd been with Bill for the past few days and had been tortured for the past few hours because of her actions.

"Star! How are the people that were trapped in the Mystery Shack?" Dipper whispered, shaking her. It was like afraid Bill would overhear him, which seemed a little unnecessary because Bill probably had super hearing or something. He hovered at the edge of her vision with a very worried expression on his face.

"They're safe for now. I stopped Bill from finishing them off." Dipper sighed in relief. Star tried to sit up but her arms felt like Jell-O when she put her weight on it. That fight had taken everything out of her. At least she'd been able to land a few good hits before Bill had been able to incapacitate her.

It looked like Bill was ignoring Marco for the moment. Star had to fight the urge to sacrifice everything just to be able to get to his body and save him. Dipper and Mabel would certainly not survive if she let her selfish desires overtake her. Besides, her and Marco wouldn't be able to last long on the run from a demon with near infinite power.

"Alright, Star. Here's The Deal. I Want Out And You Are The Only One Who Can Get Me Out Of Here. I Will Torture Everyone Here Until You Give In." Marcos body was picked up by an invisible force and dragged to Bill. Dipper, Mabel, Stan, and Ford were similarly dragged.

"Hey!" Dipper yelled in indignation. He grabbed a flashlight out of his puffy vest and shined it on himself. He grew too big for the forces to control and smashed through the cage they were in. Bill went to block the hole, but dipper grabbed Mabel and ran deeper into the pyramid. Bill growled as multiple arms sprouted. His body turned from yellow to pure white with red accents. His sclera was black with white veins.

Definitely nightmare material.

After the Bill chased Dipper and Mabel out of the main chamber, Star finally rushed to Marco.

"What did he do to you?" she cradled his head in her lap. Marco softly at the movement. Finally, a sign of life. Star would take it, no matter how faint it was. She brought out her wand and made a healing salve made from mewman plants. She started to gently rub it into the cuts and scrapes on Marcos body. A little color was returning to his face.

Stan and Ford started arguing about what to do next. All they did was blame each other; it was really starting to get on her nerves.

"Would you two cut it out! Dipper and Mabel are out there alone with Bill and you guys still can't get along!" At least they had the decency to look embarrassed.

"You're right." Ford said turning to his brother. "Why can't we just get along like we used to?"

"From now on, let's be brothers." Stan said, pulling his brother into a hug. "Twin brothers."

"That's great and all." Star interjected. "I love a good reunion, and under different circumstances I would definitely join that hug festival, but Bill is still out there. Do either of you have any more ideas on how to defeat him?"

Ford rubbed his stubble thoughtfully. "Well… if we were able to get him inside of someone's head and then erase that person's memory, it could _maybe_ erase him as well. But we'd need to give him a reason for him to get in and the only thing he'd want would be the knowledge on how to escape the portal and I have no idea what's causing it. Even then, we have no way to erase someone's memory."

"I know how to take down the portal," Star said, "_I_ was the one who put it up, after all. But Bill can't get into my head, he told me that mewman royalty had a natural resistance to magical influence since we are so exposed to it."

"Why don't we just trap him in a genie bottle or something?" Marco said. Star nearly cried when he opened his eyes and looked at her. His voice was course, like the inside of his throat had been rubbed with sandpaper, and his eyes were bloodshot. But he was alive and conscious.

"MARCO!" Star wasted no time pulling him into a hug. Finally, after a week of misery, Marco was back by her happy reunion was cut short as the walls shook. Bill's monstrous body crashed through one of the side walls with Dipper and Mabel clutched in his many hands.

"This Is SO Annoying!" Bill screamed. "Just Let Me Take Over The Universe Already." His voices had turned from chalkboard scratching to multiple tritones layered over one another.

"Never!" Although Star was tired, she couldn't give up. She charged Bill once again.

"Acid Rainbow Narwhal Blast!" A blessing of narwhals shot towards him like bullets. Once their horns punctured Bill's skin (did he have skin?), they exploded into a corrosive rainbow goo. Star learned from her previous fight with Bill was to constantly come up with new spells. If she used the same spell a few times, the demon would figure out how to counter it.

Bill screamed and dropped the Pines twins. They scrambled over to Ford, Stan, and Marco, who Star hoped were busy coming up with a permanent way to stop Bill. She could only create new spells for so long, and Bill had beaten her already today. They had a few minutes at most before Bill knocked her out again. At least Star knew she wouldn't die; she was the only one with the knowledge of how the force field received its energy. Although, if she died, then Bill would have no way to bring it down.

The thought left her mind as soon as it appeared. There was no telling how long the force field would stay up so all she would do is delay the inevitable. And since the humans of the town were currently being used as leverage against Star, Bill would have no reason to keep them alive and sane. Besides, Star had never been one to throw in the towel.

She dodged a laser beam so close she could feel the heat singe her eyebrows. It was a little too close for comfort, although a lot of the near-death experiences in the past few days had been that way. She should really be more careful in her adventures, but she just couldn't help herself.

Star's mother would always scold her for her recklessness. always talking about how she was the sole heir to the throne. Star never wanted to be the Queen of Mewni in the first place and now that Eclipsa was revealed to be the rightful ruler, she could take the crown. Would that mean that Star would have to give up her wand? That'd definitely be a bummer, but it'd be the right thing to do.

Star was so caught up in her thoughts that when she dodged a blast of fire from Bill's eye, she missed the left hook follow up. It caught her right in the stomach and she gasped as the wind was knocked out of her. Something was definitely broken. Her breathing was short and ragged because a sharp pain pierced her when she tried to take a deep breath.

Star had never been in so much pain before. She couldn't even scream it hurt so much. She collapsed on the floor, desperately trying to claw herself away from Bill.

"BILL!" Marco yelled. "I want to make a deal." What was he doing? Marco was going to get himself killed. Star was so distracted that she didn't even notice Bills foot until it collided with the back of her head. She was knocked out cold.

**AN: Howdy, everyone! Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving yesterday if you celebrate it! If you're doing any Black Friday shopping, I wish you the best of luck and I hope you stay safe. Fun Fact: A group of narwhals is called a blessing! Also, this chapter brought me past the fifty-page milestone on Word, so that's kind of a big deal to me. I'm proud of it.**

**I also wanted to give a HUGE shout out to ConorMcNamara7 on Wattpad. He's been commenting on my chapter almost everyday this week and it really means a lot to me. Thank you so much, this chapter is officially dedicated to you.**

**Hope you guys have a good week and I'll see you next Friday!**


	17. Chapter 17

Everything was supposed to hurt. He could see the murky red ball of pain off in the distance. It was like someone had punched the horizon and left a dark red bruise behind. Marco was glad that he was far, far away from it. There wasn't much else that he could see around him; the ground was made from gray sand and was relatively flat.

It was hot, or rather it looked like it should be hot. Marco could see the heat waves radiating off the sand, but he couldn't feel any heat. He was nice and comfortable.

Marco looked down; there was a body by his feet. It was laying on its side and the red hoodie was covering the persons face. He pushed the body on its back and was surprised to see a boy's face. He looked young. His face was full of baby fat and there wasn't a single hair on his chin.

Marco wasn't exactly sure what to do with the body. Whoever it was looked unconscious. Suddenly, the eyes opened. They were pure white. No pupil, no iris, not even any veins. Usually Marco would scream at such a sight, but for some reason nothing here really bothered him. He could stay in this place forever.

Sometime later, Marco thought he could hear whispering. He wasn't sure how much time, it was difficult to tell in here. It was coming from that looming cloud of mystery. Marco was slightly surprised to see that it had grown since the last time he'd looked at it. It was no longer just a simple bruise. It had expanded to eat up the horizon, going from a cotton ball of reds and blues to a cumulonimbus thunder cloud of jagged purples. He felt a gentle tug towards it but it could've been his imagination.

"Marco…" His name floated to him on a nonexistent breeze. The voice sounded familiar. It was feminine and it sounded so comfortable. Marco wouldn't mind being enveloped by it.

The voice came again, slightly louder this time. The heat waves started to develop, like how photos used to. It was a face. She had blonde hair that went all the way past her waist. Her face was shaped by her golden bangs and her cheeks had pink hearts on them. She looked sad – no that wasn't the right word. She looked… Worried?

That was it. Whoever this girl was, she was awfully worried about something. Her lips were moving, calling out to him. As he was watching this mystery girl, he noticed another mirage take form next to her. It was the same girl, but this time she was running in place towards him.

Another mirage started to apparate to Marcos left. This one was different, though. The blonde girl was there, but the unconscious boy was there too. He was being dragged by the arm towards an explosion. They must know each other. They looked like they were good friends; they almost always had megawatt smiles.

Marco could hear other voices now. Most of them were similar to the first one. He'd recognize that one anywhere now. The images seemed more like a story than just a random composition. He was looking at someone's life. He originally thought it was about the girl, but something about the boy made him think otherwise. He just couldn't place why he thought it.

The images formed a tunnel towards the tidal wave. They were obviously hinting at what they wanted to happen.

Marco grabbed the boy, threw him over his shoulder, and started walking. It was a strange, they where wearing very similar hoodies. He shrugged off the coincidence.

They'd only made it a dozen feet when Marco felt a slight oozing on his neck. It felt almost like rain drops, but it wasn't raining. He laid the boy on the ground and was shocked to see a cut had appeared on his arm. Even the hoodie was ripped. But there was nothing that could've ripped it around, unless he'd bumped into one of those images?

Surely they weren't solid. Marco wasn't even sure if they were real or if he was just hallucinating. He gingerly reached out to the nearest image. It was just the boy at his feet in this one. He was laying on a couch with a plate of steaming nachos. Marcos hand passed right through it. So what had caused the cut?

Deciding that he wasn't going to get any answers, he bandaged the wound best he could and. heaved the body back on his shoulders. The voices were still urging him to go to the purple tidal wave, so that's where he walked.

He saw the next laceration. It was on the leg closest to Marco. Another, on the right foot! Marco didn't stop walking this time because he knew there was nothing he could do about it except bear witness. Another one appeared close to where he was holding on to the body. It started to rip the skin towards Marco. He thought it would just go underneath his hand, but instead it climbed onto his skin.

Marco screamed and dropped the body like a sack of potatoes. It was more that just a cut, though. memories started to play inside his head. This one was different than the rest. It was like he was looking through someone's eyes instead of from an outsiders perspective.

Everything snapped into place at once and suddenly Marco remembered why the hoodie was significant. It was _his_ hoodie; the boy on the floor was him! The blonde girl he kept seeing was his best friend Star.

And Star needed him.

Marco picked up his body once more and continued his journey. Every step he took, a laceration or bruise formed and he was hit with another memory. His breathing became as ragged as his now tattered pants. What was happening to him? Why was this so difficult? When he took another step and a new memory surfaced, Marco stopped walking.

A new face had appeared. It was yellow triangle with a singular eye on it. It almost reminded Marco of the pyramid on the one-dollar bill, but this guy was way too creepy. He was gone from Marcos head in a second, but that sleep demon was already burned in his mind.

Bill. His name was Bill.

And he had hurt Marco.

It all made sense now. He was Marcos mind and the Marco laying unconscious on the sand was a representation of his physical body. Bill had hurt both of them and Marco had gone to this place in an attempt to save his soul.

If he turned back, the wounds would stop appearing, maybe they'd even go away completely. He could stay here, happy and ignorant.

No, he remembered enough now to know what kind of danger Star could be in, and while she was more then capable of handling most situations, Marco would always have her back. Always.

The wounds taxed Marcos strength and he could no longer pick up himself from the floor. He could only grab onto his legs and drag him. bombarded by memories that brought tears to his eyes, it was only by sheer will that Marco forced one leg in front of the other.

When he was only about a hundred feet from the cloud, Marco noticed that the wounds on his physical body had started to heal! He picked up the pace, hoping that soon his mind would start healing, too.

It never did.

Whatever was healing his body seemed to have no effect on Marcos mental state. He could still see the devilish glee in Bills eye when he did unspeakable things. He could still hear the way that the sleep demons insane laughter blended with his own screaming.

There wasn't an inch of Marcos soul that was left untouched by that freak by the time he reached the purple haze. The voices had crescendoed into a roar that nearly shattered his eardrums. Still, Stars cry for help cut through it all.

Marco took a deep breath, and walked into the cloud.

(Line Break)

Everything was dark but Marco was warm. Warm hopefully meant not dead, although he bet hell was nice and toasty this time of year.

"Bill is still out there. Do either of you have any more ideas on how to defeat him?" He knew that voice, it was a voice he'd heard almost every day for the past few years. He was finally reunited with Star.

She was talking to someone about something, that much was obvious. It sounded like it was about Bill, but Marco was more than happy to let them hash it out. He was going to enjoy whatever he was laying on and listening to Star.

His mind drifted and soon he saw his life portrayed as a cartoon. It reminded of the ones he used to watch as a kid, Tom and Jerry to be exact. Only he was Jerry and Bill was Tom. They just kept beating each other up, over and over again. Each time was more creative than the last.

"Why don't we just trap him in a genie bottle or something?" Marco hadn't realized he'd spoken aloud till he heard Star gasp. He finally opened his eyes and noticed that he'd been laying in her lap. His cheeks immediately turned red but Star was too busy pulling him into a hug to notice.

Marcos world shook, or at the very least vibrated, as Bill crashed through a side wall. He flinched at the sight of that beast. His breathing pattern shortened as the flood of memories threatened to drown him. Star was the only thing keeping him floating.

And then Star went and fought him. Again. The two men she was talking to when he woke up started devising a new way to potentially defeat Bill because apparently all the other attempts had failed (obviously).

"Well I have the mind erasing gun with me." The boy with a pine tree hat said.

"Dipper! You genius." So this was Dipper. Marco remembered that dreaded shapeshifter mentioning him. he was glad to see that Star had teamed up with them.

"We still need someway to get him inside someone's head. Any ideas, Ford?"

"Bill thinks that I know how to shut down the force field. If I get him in my head, could you really defeat him?" They looked at him for the first time, like really looked at him. Marco would do anything to save the earth.

"You've got guts, kid." The old man in a suit said. His voice was rougher than sandpaper.

"Theoritically, yes. It should work." The other one said, "But we would wipe your memory of everything that has happened. There can be absolutely no piece of Bill in your head."

"Good. There are a few things I'd rather forget anyways." Marco ignored Dipper and Mabels protests and walked towards where Star was facing off against Bill. She looked so tired. Her movements were sloppy.

It was up to him now. He could save her.

"BILL!" Marco yelled. "I want to make a deal."

**AN: Hey guys! I hope the first part wasn't too confusing. I just started typing and that came out. I like it. I also wrote almost all of this today so I apologize for any mistakes. I'll have it nice and edited by the next chapter. Also, my last final is on Monday so I should be able to write a lot more over the break. I haven't decided how it'll affect my updating schedule, but it will most likely mean longer chapters over more frequent chapters.**

**Good luck with any end of semester exams!**


	18. Chapter 18

"BILL!" Marco yelled. "I want to make a deal."

Bill stomped on Stars head as he walked over. It was all Marco could do from blowing up. The demon floated, all he had to do was let the wind take him. Instead, he chose to be cruel.

"Really?" Bill sneered. "And What Exactly Could You Offer Me?"

"A way out."

Bill seemed skeptical; Marco would've been surprised if he wasn't. Marco hadn't given up any details when he was under the demons… hospitality. Bill searched his face for any signs of deceit, but there wasn't any.

"Stop it!" Dipper screamed.

"What do you think you're doing, kid!?" Ford yelled. It was imperative that they play their part. It would be too easy to just hand over the code for the portal without any resistance from the others. Bill waved his hand and metal strips clamped their mouths shut.

"Why? Why Now?" Bill questioned. "What Changed?"

"You have Star." Marco said. "I would do anything for her."

"Humans! So… Human" Bill laughed and it took all of Marcos willpower not to flinch. He refused to show any sign of weakness. It was the least he could do when faced with a being of near unlimited power.

"You Humans Would Sacrifice Everything For One Person, Even Billons Of Other Humans! You Do See The Hypocrisy Of This, Right?"

"Cut the foreplay, Bill. Do we have a deal or not?" Bill considered his options for another moment before smiling. His hand lit up in blue flames.

"Deal." Bill grabbed Marcos hand and everything turned black.

(line break)

"Hurry Dipper, we don't have much time."

Dipper couldn't believe it. They'd actually trapped Bill into someone's mind. They could end this.

Moving quickly, Dipper, Mabel, Ford, and Stan grabbed Marcos body and rolled him onto his back. Great Uncle Ford moved one of Marcos eyelids and Dipper noticed that the pupils had become slits. Bill was in there alright.

"He's in there alright." Ford grabbed the memory gun from Dipper and started messing with the dials. "We'll need to erase every memory that the boy has ever had order to wipe him out of existence, just to be safe."

"What?!" Dipper and Mabel exclaimed. That was not what they'd told Marco.

"You can't do that! You told him it was only of his time here!" Mabel pulled onto Fords trench coat. "Look at me you coward!" He could only look at her for a moment before he dropped his gaze. He knew what he was doing was dishonest, but this was their only option left. He had to make the hard decision, and it was better that he do it than anyone else.

"You've only faced him for a summer, Mabel. I've been looking for a way to stop him for years." Ford stopped and rubbed his glasses. They were just kids; they weren't supposed to deal with these kinds of situations. "If there was another way to stop him, I would do it. But there's not so don't let Marcos sacrifice go to waste."

He turned and fired before anyone could argue anymore. Dipper was expecting a loud explosion, maybe a little earthquake. Anything to prove what he'd just witnessed had actually happened.

But there was nothing, only a slight breeze. And somehow that made the gravity of what they did all the more real.

(back to Marco)

It was weird, being back in the sandy landscape of his head. Was this place really what his mind visualized itself as? Marco had always imagined it as more of a dojo.

"Alright, Where Is It?" Or maybe was just the safest part of his consciousness, Marco wouldn't want to make it easy for Bill.

"Where's what?" Even though Marco wouldn't remember this, he couldn't resist aggravating Bill. That demon would've been the reason that Marco would be unable to sleep without nightmares; it was only fair that he got what revenge he could.

"The Knowledge Of How To Get Out Of This Infernal Bubble!" Bill was losing his temper. There was a tint of red in between the demon's bricks.

"Oh, that." Marco put his hands behind his back and shuffled his feet, trying to look as sheepish as possible. "I have no idea."

"wHAT!" Bill lost absolutely lost it. His arms erupted into fire. "You Stupid Humans! You Lied To Me! I'm Going To Make You Eat Your Own Entrails For That!" It was like watching an interdimensional baby lose its pacifier.

Marco dropped the act.

"First off, I never lied to you. I promised you a way out, not how to take down the force field." Marco smiled at Bill's look of confusion. "And Secondly, you're in my head. I'm just as powerful as you here."

Bill didn't even bother responding. His anger overtook him and he lunged for Marco. Marco waited until the last second and summoned a brick wall in between the two. There was a triangle shaped indention after Bill slammed into it.

It reminded Marco of Tom and Jerry. He couldn't laugh about it for long though because Bill grew to the size of a large building, or maybe he grew to the size of one of the pyramids of Giza. That would actually be pretty funny.

Instead of matching Bill's size, Marco turned the landscape into a snow globe and started to shrink the borders. Bill banged against the glass, but was forced to shrink back to a more manageable size. He was still double the height of Marco, but that wasn't a huge problem. He wasn't trying to win; all he had to do was stall until Ford zapped him with the memory gun. Besides, Bill might abandon ship if he felt that he was losing.

Just as Marco was starting to worry that Ford had lost his nerve, he spotted flames at the edge of his vision. They weren't Bills blue flames; they were pure white. Marco had to keep Bill distracted so that he didn't notice them until the last second. He summoned his home around the two.

"That was a lot of fighting, may I offer you some tea during this intermission?" Marco said it so casually that Bill seemed to be at a loss for words. Confusion was written all over his face as Marco conjured up a nice tea set and put a cube of sugar in his cup.

"I never could stand straight black tea. What about you, have you ever even had tea before?" Bill could only stutter in response. It was immensely satisfying to bewilder this being of pure chaos. Marco was willing to bet this was the first time he'd ever been at a complete for words. All Marco had to do was make sure his hatred for the demon didn't show through his façade for another minute or two and he'd be set.

"I.. Uh.. Can't Say That I've Ever Had Tea, Actually." Marco had to stop his eyebrows from raising to his hairline as Bill actually seemed to calm down and take a cup of tea from the tray. He could only stare as Bill blew the steam away with his eye and gingerly took a sip.

"I Must Say, That Was Quite Pleasant." Now it was Marcos turn to be speechless. Was he actually having tea with the monster that had taken joy from torturing him just a few hours ago? Marco thought of Glossaryck; he'd never made any sense either. Perhaps purely magical beings were cursed to always be unpredictable.

Instead of responding, Marco decided to glance out the window. The fire was burning through the fields of sand around them. There wasn't any smoke or any ashes, the landscape just simply ceased to exist after the fire was done with it. Perfect.

Although, Marco couldn't help but notice that absolutely nothing was left behind. Surely not everything here could have been formed since Marco had learned about the demon he was currently sharing tea with.

Bill must've followed Marco's gaze because he started to laugh.

"Point Dexter Is Trying To Use The Memory Gun On Me, Eh? I Figured He Might When You Offered To Let Me In Your Head." Bills lack of fear made Marcos skyrocket. "Looks Like That Fire Is Burning Your Entire Soul, Ford Must've Set The Dials To Maximum In An Attempt To… Dispose Of Me. It Would've Killed Me If I Was In Anyone Else's Head.

"But, You See, I've Been Keeping An Eye On Mewni Over The Years. I Know What Will Happen In The Future. I Realized While I Was Drinking The Tea That You Gave Me The Perfect Opportunity To Escape The Fall Of Magic That Star Will Bring About. But In Order For That To Happen, You Need To Retain At Least Some Part Of Your Soul. Don't Worry, I Have Taken The Liberty Of Storing Most Of Your Memories In A Fireproof Box Of Sorts."

"Wha..?" Marco couldn't even finish his train of thought. Bill was using him and Ford had lied to him! Half of what he said made no sense, but Bill had sounded so sure that Marco knew that it wasn't same made-up ruse. Star would actually destroy Magic. He didn't even know that was possible. Bill had flipped the tables on a dime.

"You Won't Remember This, But It Doesn't Matter. This Is Personal Now." Bill threw a nasty right hook and split Marcos lip as he crumpled to the floor. He didn't even try to get up. All he could do was cry. After all everyone had gone through, they'd still failed. Bill may be killed, but he gave himself a way to come back in the future.

And no one would know about it.

"I've Always Wondered What Dying Would Feel Like, I'm So Excited!" Bill's enthusiasm was only adding salt to the wound. Marco just wanted it to end. The fire had seemingly erased everything except for the living room where they were in, and even that was slowly being consumed into the void.

Marco reached out to the flames and they leapt on to his body. He thought it would hurt, he thought he would scream. He deserved a slow and painful death for his failure, but the flames robbed him of even that. As they moved across his arm, all Marco felt was a slight tingling and the inability to flex his fingers. He hoped that Bills death wasn't as painless as his, but the distinct lack of screaming told him otherwise.

Marco had lost the ability to move his legs and couldn't remember the last time he'd used his lungs to breathe. Such things seemed trivial to him now. The slight tingling had consumed his body, almost as if his whole body had fallen asleep.

The fire wasn't even loud. There wasn't any crackling or the occasional pop. It was almost silent; all Marco could hear was a slight whisper.

Until he couldn't.

It was getting harder to form complete thoughts. Each word made Marco feel like he was running a marathon. But he needed to remember Bill.

Maybe if he remembered they could prepare in the time before his return.

If he kept a hold of his thoughts, he could redeem himself.

They needed to prepare for Bill.

They needed to stop him.

Stop Bill.

Stop

B


	19. Chapter 19

The pyramid just kind of… disappeared. Dipper and all of the other inhabitants of Gravity Falls were all teleported to the town square. After a brief period of mass hysteria, everyone decided it would be best just to go home and try again another day.

The mayor issued a formal address the following day, declaring the past few weeks would best be forgotten. If anyone from outside the city came asking around, it would be best to tell them to "never mind all that". Dipper thought it was pretty smart and sure enough within a week everything was almost back to normal.

Star regained consciousness an hour or two after the pyramid and all the other weirdness disappeared. After realizing that Bill was no longer a threat, Star took the force field down. Dipper tried to explain to Star what they'd done to Marco, but he only got a few words in before she grabbed him and left. She'd said that she needed to get him to a mewni healer as fast as possible.

Dipper and Mabel both felt really guilty about how things had turned out. They wouldn't even be there when Marco regained consciousness. Star would find out on her own what they'd done. Star had done everything to protect Marco, even betraying them. Would she be happy or sad that he would have no memory of anything?

"Come on Dipper, it's time." Mabel punched him in the shoulder to shake him out of his thoughts. She was right, today wasn't a day for cloudy thoughts. It was their Birthday after all.

"You're right, lets do this." He grabbed her hand and they walked out of the Mystery Shack. The crowd cheered as they appeared. Dipper was shocked; it looked as if the whole town had come out to their birthday party/farewell party. It brought tears to his eyes, for multiple reasons. On the one hand, it meant so much to him that everyone would take the time out of their busy days to see them off. On the other hand, Dipper still felt an unbearable amount of guilt of being a part of what happened to Marco. It didn't matter that they'd only actually talked to each other for a total of five minutes; he had the bravery to stand up to Bill and Great Uncle Ford abused it. It went against everything he stood for.

"Wow! Thank you all so much for coming here!" Mabel didn't appear to have the same hesitations as Dipper, she was 100% focused on the party. "I can't believe so many people came. For once my now thirteen-year-old brother is speechless, so I'll just say thank you again from both of us!"

Everyone cheered as Dipper and Mabel waved at them all. They stepped down from the little platform so they could mingle with the crowd.

(line break)

"So, you're telling me that you want to go fight monsters in the Bermuda triangle?" Stan and his brother were off to the side at the party.

"There has been an influx of monster sightings ever since Bill crossed into our dimension. I think that just his very presence was enough to set off a chain reaction in our universe." Ford sighed and took off his glasses. He took his time rubbing them clean with his shirt.

"But you're right, fighting monsters in an ocean by myself is insane. I'm too old for that now. That's why I was hoping that you would come with me."

"What? You can't be serious. Who would look after the Mystery Shack?" Even as Stan said that, he was coming up with suitable candidates. He couldn't deny that being real life pirates with his brother was appealing. It was their childhood dream, after all.

"We could finally be twins again, Stanley. We could even make the Stan O' War 2." Stan wanted nothing more than to finally bury the hatchet between them. His mind was made up when he saw a certain employee in the crowd with his girlfriend.

"Okay, I'm in. just let me take care of some business." Stan walked up the stairs and tapped lightly on the microphone to get everyone's attention.

"I hope everyone is enjoying the party." He paused as the crowd sent a chorus of appreciation. Someone even whistled. It had taken all of Stans willpower not to pull a scam on these people. Dipper and Mabel had insisted on it.

"I don't want to steal their thunder, but I have some news. I will no longer be running the Mystery Shack." The crowd gasped. The Mystery Shack had helped the city bring in tourists. The town would definitely be hurt without it.

"HOW COULD YOU!" Soos shoved his way onto the stadium. "This place is a part of the town! You have no right to just shut this wonderful attraction down!" Stan smiled. He knew he found the perfect candidate.

"I never said anything about shutting down. I just won't be the one running it anymore." Seeing the look of confusion on Soos's face, Stan couldn't resist drawing it out a little bit. "I will need a suitable replacement. Someone who loves the Mystery Shack just as much as I do, if not more.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you all to the new man of mystery!" Stan took off his fez and tossed it too Soos. "I can't think of a better successor. I know you will be amazing."

"St-Stan, I don't know what to say." Soos was tearing up. He'd always imagined Stan as the father he never had. To hear those words was almost too much for him to comprehend. "I won't let you down."

"I know you won't." Stan patted Soos on the shoulder, but the teen wasn't having it. He pulled the old man into a backbreaking hug.

(line break)

Star was worried.

Marco had awoken the second he crossed through the portal. He gasped, as if he had been holding his breath on earth. She rushed him to the castle hospital as fast as she could carry him.

She could only remember bits and pieces of what happened there. She remembered Bill hitting her head really hard in the final battle, maybe she had brain damage. Star thought it would be best to check herself into the hospital as well.

It was probably for the best that her memory was damaged. What she did remember, she wanted to forget. Horrible things had happened over there. That demon had played with her emotions. At least they were safe, Dipper had told her that much before she took Marco and ran off. Apparently whatever Marco did worked. She'd have to ask him what he did when she saw him again.

She wished that she stayed just a little longer. Dipper and Mabel had become her friends. Star just didn't want to handle their rejection. They didn't need her now that Bill was gone and she'd betrayed them anyways. She doubted they ever wanted to see her again. Maybe she'd go back when she was feeling better and beg for forgiveness.

"Star! There you are." Queen Moon came bursting into the hospital room. There were bags of worry under her eyes and her hair wasn't a perfect big heart-shaped bun. She must've been pulling at her hair in worry because there were a lot of stray hair strands sticking every which way. Even her dress was slightly wrinkled, and that spoke volumes. She'd obviously noticed that her daughter and friend had gone missing. "What were you thinking!"

"Hey mom…" Star hadn't meant for her mom to be this stressed. She had only meant to be gone for a few days, not weeks. "I'm sorry we disappeared for so long."

"Where did you go?"

"To defeat Bill Cypher."

"WHAT!" All of her mother's worry was replaced with surprise, which was quickly overtaken by rage. "That _beast_ is a dangerous foe, more powerful than anything either of us has ever faced."

"I know mom. It was terrible, but Marco and I were able to defeat him with some help from the locals."

"You… you defeated him?" Stars mom was stunned. Eclipsa was terrified that Bill had gone rogue, and that wasn't something to be taken lightly. She had said that the being was of near infinite power. And her little daughter had taken him down. Moon wasn't sure whether to be worried or proud.

"While I will admit that I am… impressed by you, I am still your mother. What you did was foolish." Oh boy, Star thought. Here it comes. "You could've been killed! The whole kingdom was sent looking for you! What if you never came back? How would I be able to live with myself?"

Star didn't know how to respond. Sure, she had upset her mother before. More times than she could count. But this time was different. Her mom hadn't expected for her to come back this time.

"Mom… I'm sorry, but you guys refused to do anything about him. I wasn't going to let him destroy Earth. If he succeeded, then you know that Mewni would be next and he would've been much stronger then."

"You're right. I should be mad at your recklessness, but you stopped a real threat to our friends and family." Queen Moon pulled her daughter into a hug. "You're still grounded, though."

Star decided it was best not to argue. All things considered, she was getting off pretty light.

"And," Her mom said, "You must never go back to that town. Some things are best left in memories." Star groaned in protest, but one look from her mother shut her up. She was just worried about losing her daughter again.

Queen Moon gave her another motherly hug and excused herself a few minutes later. She was a very busy woman, especially with all the political turmoil happening right now.

Star rolled out of her bed to find Marco. He was lying in one of the infirmary beds a few rows down. He looked happy. He must've taken a shower since the last time they saw each other. His hair lacked any of the dirt and grime that had built up.

"How're you feeling Marco?" Star almost pulled him into a hug, but decided she didn't want to embarrass herself. Unlike Marco, she hadn't had time to take a proper shower in the past few days. Her face was covered in dirt and her usually silky summer blonde had turned a few shades darker with grime and sweat. To top things off, she was sure that she smelled worse than her dad after they went on that hunting trip to defeat the Bogbeast of Boggabah.

"Hey Star! I'm doing great, these people here are super nice." His smile looked genuine, and while it made Stars heart melt a little, it was wrong. It lacked any traces of the horrors he must've gone through. "Say, do you remember why I'm here? All I can remember is eating some delicious nachos before movie night and suddenly I'm here."

"You… you don't remember what happened?"

"Did something happen? Don't tell me I fell asleep and hit my head on the floor, that'd be embarrassing." Marcos attempt at a joke quickly turned into an awkward silence since Star didn't laugh, or even smile. His smile turned into a look of concern.

"What happened, Star?" Suddenly it all made sense. Stan and Ford had talked about erasing someone's memory and then wiping it. They didn't have the tool to do it, but maybe Dipper or Mabel did. Marco must've volunteered to be the candidate. If she reminded him about it, would his memory come back? Would he even want to remember? Marco had been tortured by Bill, maybe some things were better left alone.

"Nothing, you just hit your head during one of our adventures. Apparently, you lost a little bit of your memory." Marco looked at her skeptically and Star thought he was going to call her out for lying, but instead he seemed a bit embarrassed.

"I'm assuming you saved me. Star – 342, Marco – 0." Star couldn't let him think like that. Marco saved the world, the least she could do was make him feel better.

"Actually, Marco, you saved me." Marcos eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Really? Awesome!" Marcos eyes widened at how loud he just yelled and tried to play it off. "Ahem… not that anyone's keeping score or anything." He leaned back and put his hands behind his head, basking in the knowledge that he'd saved his friend. How could Star take that peaceful look away from him?

She decided it would be best if he never remembered what happened in Gravity Falls. He looked so much happier than before Bill had got a hold of him.

Besides, Mewni had enough adventures to last them a life time.

**AN: And that is it! I'm super proud of myself for completing my first fanfic. I really hope you guys enjoyed reading it, let me know what you guys thought.**

**I know what you guys are all thinking, what's next? I'm going to be going over this story and be doing a bunch of editing over the next few weeks. There are a lot of small details I want to add and hopefully make it a better story in general. I don't know when that will be done, but I will upload all the changes at once. While you guys are waiting for that (if you decide it's worth rereading to see what I've changed), I will start a new story in a week or two. I've got Christmas coming up and I'm flying up to Canada afterwards to visit family so I'll be pretty busy for the next little bit. The next story I work on will be a How to Train Your Dragon fanfic. It's called A Chance Meeting and you should definitely check it out! There is a teaser chapter to the sequel of this story up. It's called Disremembered Tales and takes place after the SVTFOE finale. There's sure to be a lot of things that happen and I can't wait to start working on it (I usually only write one story at a time, especially since all of the chapters in my other story are over 3k words.)**

**I'll make sure to keep you guys updated. Thank you so much for getting through this story!**


End file.
